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PUBLICATIONS 



UNITED STATES PATENT 
ASSOCIATION. 

VOLUME I. 

A DEFENCE OF THE UNITED STATES PATENT SYSTEM. 
By JOHN S. PERRY, Albany. 

OUR COUNTRY'S DEBT TO PATENTS. 
By H] HOWSON, Philadelphia. 




Vi':- 



BOSTON: 
JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY. 

1875. 






Copyright, 187s, 
lY C. F. STANSBURY, SECRETARY. 



Boston : 

Electrotyped and Printbd by 

Rand, Averv, & Co. 



PREFACE. 



The United States Patent Association is a society which 
grew out of the Patent Convention assembled in Washington, Jan. 
15, 1874. The object of that convention was to discuss and pass 
upon certain propositions enunciated by the Patent Congress held at 
Vienna in the summer of 1873, in relation to the principles which 
should govern the protection of the rights of inventors in all coun- 
tries. The Vienna propositions looked to a gradual unification of 
the patent systems of civilized nations; and the National Commit- 
tee appointed by the congress were enjoined to "use all their 
influence that the principles adopted be made known as widely as 
possible, and carried into practice ; " and were, moreover, author- 
ized " to endeavor to bring about an exchange of opinions on the 
subject, and to call, from time to time, meetings and conferences of 
the friends of patent protection." The Patent Convention, finding 
that the time which could be allotted to such a meeting would not be 
sufiicient for full discussion or intelligent action on all the questions 
relating to the protection of the rights of inventors, on which an 
expression of opinion was desired, determined that it would immedi- 
ately proceed to organize a permanent society, to be known as the 
UNITED STATES PATENT ASSOCIATION, to which should be 
referred the various questions submitted to the Convention, and 
which should be charged with the duty of taking the necessary meas- 
ures to bring about intelligent and united action by the inventors 
of the country to secure better protection of their rights, by develop- 
ing a healthy public sentiment on the subject ; by collecting and 



disseminating information relating to the effect of patents upon the 
industry and productive force of nations ; by urging appropriate 
legislation upon Congress, especially with reference to simplifying 
and cheapening the legal remedies for infringements upon the rights 
of inventors ; by co-operating in tlie movement now making in 
Europe for the establishment of more just and equitable patent 
systems abroad ; and, generally, to take such action as might be 
deemed most for the advantage of inventors and of all who are 
interested in patent property. 

The Association was accordingly organized Jan. i6, 1874, by 
the adoption of a Constitution and By-Laws, reported by a com- 
mittee, and approved by the Convention, and by the election of a 
Board of Officers and Directors representing all sections of the 
country, and every form of interest in inventions and patents. 

The second article of the Constitution declares that the " Associa- 
tion is not formed as a combination against any class or interest^ 
nor shall the influence or means of this Association be used to aid 
any individual enterprise, or to promote any personal scheme." The 
varied character of the Board of Government, consisting as it does 
of men from all the different quarters of the country, and of 
different professions, is a guaranty of the good faith of this 
declaration. 

Provision has been made for the organization of State Associa- 
tions as branches of the National body, the presiding officers of 
such branches to be, ex officio, vice-presidents of the National 
Association. 

One of the most important duties of the Association is the collec- 
tion and publication of statistical information in reference to the 
relations of patents to the manufacturing and productive industry of 
the United. States, with a view to demonstrate the effect of a liberal 
patent system in developing the prosperity of nations. This branch 
of its operations will be of special importance in reference to its 
effect upon sentiment abroad, in encouraging the existing tendency 
of European opinion in favor of the adoption of a patent system 
closely assimilated to our own. 



It will, also, it is hoped, tend to remove the barrier of ignorance, 
which has hitherto prevented property in invention from being an 
object of general interest and solicitude, and to hasten the time 
when invention, and the rights flowing from it, shall be recognized 
and fostered, not in theory only, but in practice, as of the highest 
public concern. 

The following essays, on subjects of the deepest importance to 
inventors and patentees, in reference to legislation, which has been 
proposed and advocated in Congress, looking to a disastrous abridg- 
ment of the protection afforded by existing laws to rights in patent 
property, are offered by the Board of Government of the Patent 
Association to all who are interested in the questions to which they 
relate, as a fulfilment of that part of the duty of the Association 
which consists in " collecting and disseminating information relating 
to the effects of patents upon the industry and productive force of 
nations," with a view to the development of a healthy public 
sentiment on the subject. 

CHARLES F. STANSBURY, 
Secretary of the U. S. Patent Association. 



CONTENTS. 



Paqb 

A DEFENCE OF THE PATENT SYSTEM OF THE UNITED 

STATES. By John S. Perry 9 

OUR COUNTRY'S DEBT TO PATENTS. By Henry Howson . . 69 

What Patents have done for Us 72 

Reckless Making and Unmaking of Patent Laws . . .85 

Where does the Money go ? ' . . .92 

Valueless Patents 102 

About Inventors 104 

altacks on the patent office i05 

The Cry against Patents and Inventors loS 



A DEFENCE 



PATENT SYSTEM OF THE UNITED 
STATES. 



BEING A REPLY TO THE SPEECH OF HON. HENRY B. SAYLER OF INDIANA, 

DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ON THE 7TH OF FEBRUARY, 1874. 



JOHN S. PERRY, 

OF ALBANY, N.Y. 



A DEFENCE OF THE 
PATENT SYSTEM OF THE UNITED STATES. 



It seems scarcely necessary, 
in view of the enlightenment 
of the nineteenth century, to 
defend the Patent System in 
general, and that of the United 
States in particular. 

Since, however, an honorable 
Representative on the floor of 
Congress has lately endeavored 
to bring into disfavor the exist- 
ing Patent Laws,* a brief state- 
ment of some of the arguments 
in their favor may not be con- 
sidered uncalled for. 

In prosecuting this design, I 
shall confine myself to two 
heads. 

First, A review of some of 



* See speech cf Mr. Sayler of Indiana in 
Congressional Record, Feb. 8, 1S74, p. 12, 
in favor of Bill No. 1,392. 



the principles upon which Pat- 
ent Law is founded. 

Second, A reply in detail to 
the speech of Mr. Sayler, in 
which, I trust, the specious 
nature of his arguments will 
be made apparent. 

It will not be disputed, that 
man has a right of property in 
that upon which he bestows 
labor ; and that, if this owner- 
ship be taken from him, either 
by violence, or by the absence 
of law protecting his rights, a 
great incentive to manly exer- 
tion is removed. 

From an early date in the 
history of nations, this princi- 
ple has been recognized. When 
the barbarous has merged into 
the civilized state, and a solid 



12 



form o£ government been es- 
tablished, laws looking to the 
protection of inventors have in 
most cases been speedily enact- 
ed. It is true these laws were 
often crude, and, on that ac- 
count, frequently inoperative, 
nevertheless the fact of their 
existence proved their neces- 
sity as well as their impor- 
tance. 

In the history of the United 
States, "patent protection" is 
coincident with our existence 
as an independent nation. The 
Patent Law, as it now stands 
in the United States, rests on 
the statutes of April lo, 1790, 
February 21, 1793, and April 
17, 1800. These statutes have, 
however, been modified at vari- 
ous times, as, for instance, in 
1836, and again in 1870, when 
new laws were passed. 

The friends of our Patent 
System acknowledge that it is 
not a perfect one, and are mak- 
ing strenuous efforts to remedy 
its defects ; yet as it stands, 
with all its imperfections, it has 
done much to advance civili- 
zation, and increase the wealth 
and power of our country. 



An examination will show 
that the growth and prosperity 
of almost every department of 
industry has been largely de- 
pendent upon patented inven- 
tions, of which the steam- 
engine, the electric telegraph, 
the mower and reaper, and the 
sewing-machine will at once 
occur to the reader as notable 
examples. 

Take, however, one illustra- 
tion out of many that might 
be adduced, drawn from the 
history of agriculture. The 
art of husbandry was at a low 
ebb in England until the four- 
teenth century, when it began 
to be practised with consider- 
able success in the midland 
and south-western parts of the 
country ; yet it does not appear 
to have been cultivated as a 
science, until the latter end of 
the sixteenth century ; the first 
work on agriculture in the 
English language appearing 
in 1534. Still, little improve- 
ment was made in the theories 
then advanced, for upwards 
of a hundred years, when Sir 
Hugh Piatt discovered and 
brought into use, under a sort 



13 



of patent, several kinds of ma- 
nures for fertilizing and restor- 
ing exhausted soils. 

Stimulated by this begin- 
ning, agriculture received a new- 
impulse ; and in 1 793 a " Board 
of Agriculture " was estab- 
lished by an act of parliament 
at the suggestion of Sir John 
Sinclair, who was its first 
president. 

Through the influence of 
this board, a great number of 
agricultural societies immedi- 
ately sprang into existence, 
both in England and the 
United States, which, by their 
publications and discussions, 
stimulated a spirit of emula- 
tion, and have produced, from 
time to time, various inven- 
tions and improvements in the 
implements with which the 
different operations of hus- 
bandry are performed. 

Instead of the cumbersome 
and uncouth implement with 
which the ground was formerly 
prepared for the reception of 
the seed, the farmer now uses 
the light and graceful plough. 
Where once he scattered his 
wheat unevenly and wastefully 



by hand, and covered it with a 
hoe or a bush, he now employs 
the drill, which, with economy 
and great exactness, ploughs 
the furrow, drops the seed, and 
at the same time covers it to a 
uniform depth. 

In the primitive cultivation 
of cotton, the seed was sepa- 
rated from the boll by hand, — 
a method so tedious and expen- 
sive, that little or no profit 
could be realized ; while by the 
use of the " saw-gin," and other 
inventions, now universally em- 
ployed, the product has grown 
from that of a garden-plant at 
the end of the Revolutionary 
War, to an amount exceeding 
that produced in all other 
countries. 

In 1784 eight bags shipped 
to England were seized, on the 
ground that so much cotton 
could not be produced in the 
United States ; whereas at the 
present time we have an annual 
product of four or five millions 
of bales. 

It is safe to affirm, that were 
it not for the wonderful ap- 
pliances for sowing, reaping, 
and harvesting, which are now 



H 



in common use, and which are 
due to the fostering care of 
the Patent System, the im- 
mense cotton and grain fields 
of our country would lie, to a 
great extent, still uncultivated. 
Had the old method been re- 
tained, the West of to-day 
would be little in advance of 
its condition fifty years ago ; 
and we may fairly assume, that 
without the vast crops of cot- 
ton and of cereals which are 
yearly exported, and which, 
at no distant day, with pro- 
ducts of minor value, will se- 
cure to us the " balance of 
trade," our present develop- 
ment and prosperity would 
become bankruptcy, both na- 
tional and individual; immi- 
gration (that public blessing) 
would cease, commerce would 
be crippled, our manufactur- 
ing industry decay, and we 
recede as a nation, until we 
stood in the background with 
those which have failed to 
appreciate, and therefore to 
foster and protect, the genius, 
skill, and inventive power of 
their people. 

We have not taken into ac- 



count the amelioration of the 
masses, which the inventions 
of the age have effected, by 
giving easier and more lucrative 
employment to thousands, who 
would otherwise delve like the 
serfs in unprogressive coun- 
tries. 

Since the introduction of 
labor-saving machinery, para- 
doxical as it may appear, the 
demand for labor in every de- 
partment of activity has greatly 
increased ; and we may depend 
that this will continue to be the 
uniform rule. Inventions pro- 
duce wealth in proportion to 
their merits : the increase of 
wealth gives the power to em- 
ploy more labor, as well as labor 
of a higher order. 

A Patent Law compels the 
inventor, if he would avail him- 
self of its benefits, to make his 
inventions known by spreading 
out a minute description of the 
same upon the public records 
of the office, and, if he would 
reap pecuniary advantage, to 
publish them to the world, 
thereby giving an opportunity 
for their general adoption. 

In Burrow's report, Mr. Jus- 



15 



tice Yates says, " that the mere 
labor and study of the inventor 
will establish no property in the 
invention, and no right to ex- 
clude others from making the 
same instrument." 

The Patent Law thus secures 
to the public a direct benefit 
from the invention. 

Nor, again, do patents, as Mr. 
Sayler seems to suppose, create 
monopolies. These rewards 
have never been considered 
special favors, like the monopo- 
lies granted by the British 
crown to favorites, anterior to 
the seventeenth century, for the 
sale of articles of prime neces- 
sity, but rather as the pay- 
ment of just debts due from 
the public for benefits con- 
ferred, as well as an incentive 
to further effort. 

In no sense can a patent be 
considered an injustice to the 
public, because it takes noth- 
ing from them which they had 
ever before possessed : on the 
contrary, it gives them some- 
thing new, some increased fa- 
cility, some more advantageous 
method, or a cheaper substitute 
for a rare and costly article. 



The public are under no 
compulsion and no restraint 
If they accept the patented ar- 
ticle, it is because they find it 
for their advantage to do so, 
and in spite of the royalties to 
the inventor. 

Who, for example, is content 
with a daguerrotype, when he 
can procure a photograph ? 

Who, if the occasion war- 
rants it, will communicate by 
letter, when he can use the 
telegraph } 

Or what farmer of any means 
will employ twenty "hands" 
with the old-fashioned scythe, 
when one man with two horses 
and a machine can accomplish 
more and better work } 

Or what woman will " stitch, 
stitch, stitch," day and night, 
when, with a machine, the labor 
of a score of workers can be 
accomplished .'' 

The road to the great inven- 
tions of modern times, though 
rough and thorny, was equally 
open to Mr. Sayler and to all 
of us : that we did not go 
forth and secure some of these 
prizes is surely our own fault 
or misfortune, the penalty for 



i6 



which should not be visited 
upon those who have labored, 
perhaps for years, and in obscu- 
rity and poverty, in devising 
and perfecting inventions which 
were to bless the world. 

Another prevalent idea, and 
one often urged against the Pat- 
ent System, is, that manufactur- 
ers are injured by the protec- 
tion thus afforded for a limited 
time to meritorious inventions. 

It is believed that a little 
investigation will show, that 
all energetic and enterprising 
manufacturers are greatly ben- 
efited : those of the other class 
are not of much account, and, 
as they would reap little profit 
from any system, it would 
scarcely be wise to disturb the 
present relation of things in 
their favor. 

In reply to a Circular sent 
out in 1873 by the Secretary of 
State to the leading manufac- 
turers of the country, contain- 
ing a series of inquiries as to 
the influence of the Patent Sys- 
tem upon our manufacturing 
interests, the responses were 
uniformly, that it was of incal- 
culable advantage ; and it is 



believed that this must be the 
opinion of all who give the sub- 
ject a fair and unprejudiced 
examination. 

It will readily be seen, that, 
in any industry, the consump- 
tion would be largely increased 
by whatever added to the vari- 
ety of the products, or made 
them more desirable. 

From the foregoing remarks, 
we deduce that the Patent 
System is in a great measure 
a gauge of civilization. The 
aboriginals of this country were 
not able to avail themselves of 
the products which the soil 
of America so lavishly brings 
forth, simply from the lack of 
proper implements. Even in 
the Colonial period, as has 
been recently remarked by 
Mr. Edward H. Knight in his 
excellent paper on mechanical 
progress, "The people were 
generally engaged in husband- 
ry, lumbering, trading, hunting, 
and fishing. The exports were 
grain, meat, naval stores, to- 
bacco, and pelts. But few 
mechanical arts were carried 
on systematically, except ship- 
building. . . . The hand-card, 



17 



the spinning-wheel, and the 
loom, constituted almost always 
the furnishing of houses. . . . 
Carts, ploughs, and hoes were 
made by the country mechanic 
of such material as he could 
procure, little metal being used 
in either. Strips of iron ham- 
mered out of old horseshoes 
were the facings of the wooden 
mouldboards of ploughs." 

In proportion as the Patent 
System has stinjiulated and de- 
veloped inventions among our 
people, have our mechanical 
arts risen in importance, until 
our power in this direction 
has become recognized through- 
out the world. 

Having thus shown, in a 
general way, the influence of 
the Patent System, and some 
of the arguments that may be 
adduced in its favor, I will pro- 
ceed to give a few examples in 
detail, showing that the chief 
assumptions upon which Mr. 
Sayler relies to bring it into 
disrepute rest upon a poor 
foundation ; or, in other words, 
that his premises are not in 
accordance with the facts. 
Pie says, — 



" In encouraging and 
strengthening the Patent Sys- 
tem, I do not wish to warm in 
my bosom the serpent which 
will turn on me, and sting me 
to death, that will paralyze the 
hand which has supplied it 
with the means of life." 

The chief burden of Mr. 
Sayler's speech, is, that an in- 
ordinate profit is made upon 
patented articles. On rubber 
goods, he states the profit upon 
the capital invested to be fifty- 
nine per cent : on sewing- 
machines, sixty-seven per cent ; 
and on agricultural implements, 
fifty-two per cent. He further 
makes the astounding asser- 
tion, that the average net profit 
upon the capital employed in 
the entire manufacturing busi- 
ness of the country, patented 
or otherwise, is about forty per 
cent. 

Our manufacturers will smile 
on reading this statement, and 
wonder at the credulity which 
permitted it to appear in print. 
I venture to say there is not one 
of them who will not bear me 
out in the assertion, that upon 
the general business of manu- 



i8 



facturing, including patented 
articles, the net profits upon 
the capital employed will range 
from zero to twenty per cent, 
and that, upon an average, they 
will not exceed ten per cent. 

Immediately after the de- 
livery of Mr. Sayler's speech, I 
put myself in communication 
with a number of prominent 
and reputable manufacturers, 
with a view of ascertaining 
how much of truth or error 
there was in it. The results 
of this investigation will now 
be presented. 

STATEMENT NO. I. 

[From a retired woollen manufacturer in 
Massachusetts.] 

" I have taken some pains to 
inform myself in regard to the 
questions proposed, and will 
try to give such information as 
you call for. Of course, we 
can only approximate the ave- 
rage ; for, in the same class of 
manufacturing, there is a great 



difference in the proportion of 
labor, stock, and sundries in 
different mills, owing to the 
various styles of goods made. 

" Thus in woollen mills, labor 
varies from twelve and a half 
to twenty-five per cent of the 
net cost : so of the item of 
sundries. My experience and 
observation, confirmed by the 
testimony of manufacturers of 
all classes, lead to the conclu- 
sion, that the average of manu- 
facturing throughout New Eng- 
land does not pay more than 
ten per cent upon the capital 
invested. 

" Woollen manufacturers, as 
a class, have not kept their cap- 
ital good, to say nothing about 
interest, for the last eight 
years. This I know. 

" The percentage of cost for 
stock, labor, and sundries, with 
the percentage of profit on the 
net cost of production, taking 
one year with another, is found 
to be about as follows : — 



WOOLLEN GOODS. 



Stock . 

Labor 

Sundries 



68 per cent. 
20 " 
12 « 
100 " 



Estimated profits 10 to 12 
Mr. Sayler's statement of 



per cent. 

profits 32 per cent 



19 

COTTON GOODS. 

Stock S3 per cent 

Labor. 33 " 

Sundries 14 " 

100 " 
Estimated profit 8 to 10 per cent. 
Mr. Sayler's statement of profit 18 per cent 

SHOES. 

Stock 63 per cent 

Labor 22 " 

Sundries IS " 

100 " 
Estimated profit 5 to 10 per cent 

LEATHER. 

Stock 6s per cent 

Labor 16 " 

Sundries 19 " 

100 " 
Estimated profit 12 to 15 per cent" 
Mr. Sayler's statement 35 per cent. 



STATEMENT NO. 2. 

[From an experienced and extensive manu- 
facturer of pig iron in the Lehigh Vallej', 
Penn.] 

" The assumption that mate- 
rial and labor alone make up 
the cost of manufacture is 
manifestly a most unjust one. 
This is particularly true of pig 
iron, where numberless acci- 



dents of all kinds occur, not 
only materially increasing the 
cost, but lessening the price, 
as an inferior grade is the inevi- 
table result. 

" The average cost of pig 
iron produced in the Lehigh 
Valley during the six months 
ending Dec. 31, 1873, was about 
^32.00 per ton at the furnace, 
made up as follows : — 



20 



Stock * . 76^'^ per cent 

Labor 14 « 

Sundries 9^'^ " 



" The statement 
stand as follows : — 



will then 



" Now" if, to this sum, you add 
the freight to tide-water, the 
selling expenses, taxes, losses, 
&c., you will have a cost of not 
less than 1^36.00. 

Stock 6S^^ per cent. 

Labor 12/^ " 

Sundries 19^ " 

100 " 

Note. — The nominal price of pig iron last year was 340.00, JP43.00, and $45.00 for 
Nos. 3, 2, and i respectively ; but large quantities were sold late in the season at $2°-°° ^ 
$35.00, and some below these figures : the average, therefore, could not safely be put above 
J40.00, which would give a profit of eleven per cent upon the cost. 

Mr. Sayler's statement of profits is twenty per cent. 

It cannot be doubted, that, in the manufacture and sale of pig iron during the years 1873 
and 1874, ^^^^ balance has been upon the wrong side. 



STATEMENT NO. 3. 

[From a manufacturer of finely-finished ma- 
chinery, much of which is patented.] 

" We have much more labor 
in proportion to the material 



than some others, the fine fit- 
ting being expensive. 

" We manufacture to the 
amount of our capital annually. 
We have looked over one year 
with the following results : — 



Stock .19 per cent. 

Labor 51 " 

Sundries 30 «* 



" If congressmen would show 
the amount of money lost in 
manufacturing, and offset it 



against the few who do make 
money, it would be ^ more 
just. 



21 



STATEMENT NO, 4. 

[From one of the largest and most successful 
manufacturers of mowing and reaping 
machines.] 

" The statement of Mr. Say- 
ler, that manufacturers of agri- 
cultural implements realize 
fifty-two per cent of profit, is 
too absurd for any correction, 

" I have been connected with 
this company since 1 85 2, and am 
well posted as to the business, 

"There are some 90,000 
mowing and reaping machines 
manufactured per year in the 
United States, of which num- 
ber, probably one-seventh are 
exported. 

"Of this 90,000, this com- 
pany made, last year (1873), 
20,715, or twenty-three per 
cent of the whole number. 

'* The capital of this com- 
pany is ^1,000,000. 

" The competition in this 
line between the makers of 
different types, each of whom 
is protected by his own special 
patents, is severe, and brings 
prices down where there can 
be no great amount of extor- 
tion to the farmer. 
, " Our company is well organ- 



ized, and manufactures on a 
large scale, and, of course, can 
furnish machines cheaper than 
small makers ; but the results 
show, that we cannot divide 
over ten to fifteen per cent on 
our capital. 

"We have had to purchase 
patents on machines to protect 
ourselves ; but this would not 
amount to one per cent of our 
outlay. 

"We could not sustain our 
establishment, if every black- 
smith and small machinist at 
every cross-road could make 
our type of machines, as their 
neighbors would take machines 
of them. 

" But the inventor of this 
type has furnished us with the 
product of his own brain, by a 
lifetime of labor and study. 

"By looking at the number 
of machines this company an- 
nually turn out, you will see 
that there would be more clean 
money to them in receiving 
^10 royalty on each, than in 
manufacturing. But this is 
based upon the assumption 
that some one would put this 
number on the market, which 



22 



would not and could not be 
done ; for no man could make 
this type of mower and reaper, 
or any other, and pay ;^io roy- 
alty, and live." 

Comment. — In view of the 
foregoing statement, if this 
company make an annual 
profit of ten per cent upon 
their capital of ^1,000,000, it 
is 1^100,000, or on 20,715 ma- 
chines, as made in 1873, an 
average of 1^4.83 each. 

With a profit of twelve and 
a half per cent, the average is 
$6,04 each : with a profit of 
fifteen per cent, the average is 
^7.25 each. 

Mr. Sayler's statement of 
profit on all kinds of agri- 
cultural implements, patented 
or otherwise, is fifty-two per 
cent. 

His impracticable proposal, 
" to pay a royalty to the owner 
of a patent right of ten per 
cent upon the market value 
of the article manufactured," 
would have the effect of in- 
creasing the price of nearly 



every patented article now 
upon the market. It would 
double the royalty demanded 
upon sewing-machines by the 
combined interest which con- 
trols a score of patents upon 
the same. And suppose, for 
a moment, that these twenty 
patents, more or less, were held 
by as many different parties, 
who, in the name of constitu- 
tional law, would have the 
right or the ability to decide 
with justice what proportion 
should be paid to each .'' 

In the construction of mow- 
ers and reapers, as in other 
things, the patented inventions 
embodied are numerous, and 
of different values : could any 
court of arbitration adjust them 
with any prospect of doing 
justice to the patentees, the 
manufacturer, and the public .•• 

In a machine of which the 
"market value " was, say, j^ioo, 
one patented invention might 
command a royalty of a dollar, 
or one-tenth of one per cent ; 
another, of greater importance, 
might be worth five dollars, or 
five per cent ; the shades of 
value varying at different times. 



23 



according to the necessities, 
the fancy, or the caprice of the 
public, or the state of the art 
at the time. 

This question, therefore, Uke 
all others having reference to 
prices or values, must be regu- 
lated by the higher power of 
demand and supply, the ulti- 
mate arbiter of all such ques- 
tions, irrespective of legal en- 
actments from whatever source. 

In respect to agricultural 
implements, Mr. Sayler uses 
the following extraordinary lan- 
guage:— 

"The capital employed in 
the manufacture of these in 
1870, as shown by the census, 
was ^34,834,600. They paid 
a Httle over ^12,000,000 for 
wages'; they paid nearly ^21,- 
500,000 for materials ; and their 
net profits on the basis indi- 
cated was fifty-two per cent on 
all the agricultural implements 
in the country. 

"The man who pays ^150 
for his reaper pays $52 as a 
royalty to-day to the holders of 
patent rights. ... It is fifty- 
two per cent, on every dollar 
invested in the manufacture 



of agricultural implements and 
machinery, clear profit. . . . 
In any way you may look at it, 
you will find there is a duplica- 
tion every two years. You 
may burn up and utterly de- 
stroy every agricultural imple- 
ment manufacturing establish- 
ment in the country, and they 
will yet make four per cent on 
the invested amount. ;^3 5,000,- 
000 capital invested in agricul- 
tural implements doubles itself 
every two years, and leaves a 
net profit besides. So it goes 
on, and on, and on, until, when 
the ordinary life of a patent 
right shall have expired, more 
than ^400,000,000 has been 
made, or nearly made, by the 
original ^35,000,000." 

The tales of " The Arabian 
Nights " are as worthy of be- 
lief as this statement. I will 
venture the assertion, and for 
its truth I refer to every manu- 
facturer of agricultural imple- 
ments in the land, that, tak- 
ing one year with another, the 
net profits upon the entire 
product of the country do not 
average over ten per cent, nor 



24 



the royalties to the holders 
of Patents, over two per cent, 
upon the value of the patented 
articles. 

STATEMENT NO 5. 

[Frt)m one of the largest and most success- 
ful manufacturers of sewing-macliines.] 

" The sewing-machine busi- 
ness was begun in the United 
States in the year 1850. 

" Out -of some ten compa- 
nies and firms who engaged in 
the business during the suc- 
ceeding five years, only three 
are now in existence. The 
others failed, — some because 
their machines had no merit ; 
but most, because the sales 
were so limited as to make the 
business undesirable. The pre- 
judice against the introduction 
of these machines which the 
pioneers of the business en- 
countered was probably greater 
than that attending the intro- 
duction of any other labor-sav- 
ing instrument. 

" From the time sewing-ma- 
chines were first introduced, 
large expenditures have been 
made by the leading manufac- 
turers in order to popularize 



their use ; and in no section of 
the country has this business 
been made to yield a profit, 
until after those seeking to 
establish it had first lost large 
sums in their undertakings. 

"In the year 1856, the own- 
ers of leading patents united 
in an arrangement for the pur- 
pose of more effectually pro- 
tecting the business against 
infringers, and for the purpose 
of granting licenses under the 
patents to others who desired 
to engage in the business. 

" Prices at which machines 
were then sold were more than 
double what they now are. 
The license-fee was fixed at 
$ 1 5 per machine. In the year 
i860, this license was reduced 
to $2 per maehine ; and at this 
rate twelve additional licenses 
to manufacture were granted. 
In 1868 it was again reduced 
to ^5 per machine, and lastly, 
in 1870, to ^3 per machine ; 
which sum is the royalty now 
paid by all licensees making 
double-thread sewing-machines. 
No agreement ever existed be- 
tween the companies as to the 
prices at which machines should 



25 



be sold. Each company could, 
at any time, regulate prices as 
it chose. 

" The number of companies 
and firms now engaged in 
the sewing-machine business is 
thirty-one. 

" The amount o£ capital em- 
ployed in the United States by 
these thirty-one manufacturers 
is not less than (;^40,ooo,ooo) 
forty millions of dollars. This 
capital is employed as fol- 
lows : — 

" First, In the ownership of 
patents, and in organizing and 
perfecting a marketable ma- 
chine. 

" Second, In acquiring proper 
manufacturing facilities, among 
which is included very large 
expenditures for special tools, 
and machinery which is only 
applicable to the manufacture 
of the particular machine for 
which it is designed. 

" Third, In the purchase and 
payment of the necessary ma- 
terial and labor employed in 
the various departments of the 
manufactory. 

"Fourth, In creating and 
maintaining the selling organi- 



zation necessary to market the 
machines, to instruct purchas- 
ers in their use, and to keep 
them in order. 

''Fifth, In extending long 
credits to purchasers, and in 
the employment of a large 
force for making collections on 
the machines sold on the in- 
stalment plan. 

"The organizations for mak- 
ing and selling sewing-ma- 
chines are so dependent upon 
each other, that it has been 
found necessary that the par- 
ties making must also control 
and supervise the sales. Sev- 
eral attempts have been made 
by manufacturers to dispose of 
the entire production of their 
manufactories to other parties, 
who would undertake the in- 
troduction and sale of their 
machines ; but each attempt 
in this direction has proved a 
failure. 

" The success or failure of 
any sewing-machine manufac- 
turer is dependent on the man- 
ner in which his machine is 
marketed ; for although large 
sales may, for a time, be made, 
unless the necessary expenses 



26 



are incurred to properly in- 
struct purchasers in using ma- 
chines, and in maintaining a 
force of agents to adjust, re- 
pair, and see that machines 
sold are kept in successful 
operation, the reputation of the 
machine will suffer, and sales 
will diminish proportionately. 

" If the manufacturer of 
sewing-machines could sell his 
machine, and the right under 
his patents to use it, without 
the additional expenses re- 
ferred to, he could well afford 
to accept from thirty-five to 
forty per cent of the price now 
charged. 

" Suppose the manufacturer 
of the little instrument used 
for transmitting telegraphic 
messages, which is now sold 
for about $15, should be com- 
pelled to support an organiza- 
tion for the purpose of instruct- 
ing parties in its use, and 
keeping it in order, would 1^150, 
or even ^200, be an unreason- 
able price at which to sell it ? 
Or suppose the manufacturer 
of a piano, which would other- 
wise sell for ;^500, were com- 
pelled to do the same thing, 



would ;^ 1,500, or even $2,000, 
be an unreasonable charge ? " 

" The profits of the sewing- 
machine business are not to be 
arrived at by estimating the 
difference between the cost of 
making a sewing-machine, and 
the price at which it is sold. 
By far the largest item of cost 
to the manufacturer is the cost 
of selling machines, and main- 
taining the necessary organiza- 
tion for keeping them in suc- 
cessful operation. There is 
not a sewing-machine manu- 
facturer in the United States 
who would not be glad to enter 
into a contract with any re- 
sponsible company, firm, or 
individual, for ^e sale of the 
entire production of their 
manufactory at from sixty to 
sixty-five per cent discount 
from the published prices of 
their respective machines. 

"In the year 1870 a con- 
tract was entered into by one 
of the largest sewing-machine 
companies in the country, for 
supplying as many sewing- 
machines (exclusive of stands 
or tables) as another company, 
which was organized for the 



27 



purpose of marketing this ma- 
chine, might require, at $14 
each. The retail price of this 
machine was fixed at ^70 ; and 
the last-named company, after 
having displayed considerable 
ability in marketing over 100,- 
000 of these machines, are to- 
day unable to pay their debts ; 
and their business is being 
managed by a committee of 
their creditors." 

In contrast with this plain 
statement of facts, we have the 
following crude opinion of Mr. 
Sayler, based upon the census 
returns, which the superintend- 
ent, as we shall see later, has 
characterized as being " efitirely 
untrustworthy and delusive;^' 
viz., — 

" It takes but a fraction over 
seventeen months for the sew- 
ing-machine capital of the 
country to pay for all the labor 
it employs, all the material it 
uses, and all the capital that is 
engaged in the business. 

" Every two years, you might 
burn down and utterly destroy 
every sewing-machine estab- 
lishment in the country, and 



they would yet have in their 
pockets all that they had paid 
for wages and material, all 
their capital, and in the neigh- 
borhood of twenty per cent 
besides. . . . 

" The profit upon a ^60 ma- 
chine, as shown by the census 
of 1870, is 1^24. 

" The entire number sold in 
the United States, up to the 
present time, reaches in the 
neighborhood of 3,500,000 ; and 
the aggregate profit, on this 
basis, upon the sewing-machines 
throughout the land, amounts 
to ^84,250,000, the great propor- 
tion of which comes from the 
toilers of the midnight lamp, — 
from those who are compelled 
to 'stitch, stitch, stitch,' for a 
meagre subsistence, while the 
patent holders are insisting 
that ^24 out of every $60 that 
they invest in sewing-machines 
shall go to them as profit, . . . 

"Taking these two items 
of sewing-machines and agri- 
cultural implements, and the 
aggregate profit of all that 
have been sold, since their in- 
troduction, up to the present 
time, on sewing-machines, and, 



28 



up to 1870, on agricultural im- 
plements, is over ;^ 200,000,- 
000 of actual profit, clear cut, 
— thick cut it is true, but clear 
cut." 

Where, it may be asked, are 
those two hundred million- 
naires who are indebted to the 
manufacture and sale of sew- 
ing-machines and agricultural 
implements for their great 
wealth ? Can Mr. Sayler point 
out even five ? We cannot. 

In the new law which he 
proposes, the royalty to a 
single patentee upon sewing- 
machines the market-value of 
which is $60, would be $6. 
We have seen that the asso- 
ciation which controls the lead- 
ing Patents in this branch 
of industry (a score of them, 
more or less) are willing to 
license Mr. Sayler, or any 
other responsible person or 
company, to manufacture sew- 
ing-machines of the most ap- 
proved patterns, for the small 
royalty of ^3 each, or five per 
cent on a ^60 machine. 

If the present manufacturers 
are such extortioners, and so 



regardless of the interests of 
the poor, and if the profits in 
the business are so attractive, 
why do not some philanthrop- 
ic and enterprising capitalists 
embark in it .-' There is no 
monopoly : the road is open to 
any who will pay the small 
royalty demanded. 

In respect to the statement,' 
that " a greater portion of 
these milhons comes from the 
toilers by the midnight lamp," 
a little investigation will show, 
that a very large part of this 
manufacture is absorbed by 
persons who are above want, 
by manufacturers, and by for- 
eign nations. 

STATEMENT NO. 6. 

" In the business of manufac- 
turing stoves, in which I have 
been engaged for more than 
thirty years,' it has been my 
custom to make up annually 
statistical accounts of the cost 
in great detail. 

"A statement of this cost, 
modified to meet the average 
condition of stove-founders, I 
submitted to the National As- 
sociation of Stove Manufactur- 



29 



ers, at their first meeting, held 
in the city of New York three 
years since. 

" It has been universally in- 
dorsed by the trade as being 
substantially correct. 

" Detailed statements of this 
character in respect to most 



other branches of manufacture 
would be far more reliable as a 
basis for action than the cen- 
sus returns, which the super- 
intendent characterizes as be- 
ing * wholly worthless,^ or the 
opinions of inexperienced theo- 
rists." 



The following is a copy of the statement referred to. 

Estimated Cost of manufacturing 3,000 net Tons of Stoves of an 
Ordittary Quality in ojie Foundry, and in one Cupola, runnittg 
»273 Days, the Product averaging II Tons per Day. 

Iron at $40.00. If 2,120 pounds are realized from a gross 

ton, the cost per net ton will be $37-73 6-10 

Coal for melting 3,333 pounds of iron, the amount required 

to make 2,000 pounds of cleaned castings, including waste, 

20 pounds per hundred, or 666 6-10 pounds, cost $7.17 per 

gross ton, or 32 cents per hundred net 2.13 3-10 

Coal for engine, 1,400 pounds per day, cost $6.50 

per gross ton, or 29 cents per hundred net . . $4.06 .37 

Coal used in 22 heating stoves, 60 days, 60 pounds 

each, 1,320 pounds per day, 79,200 pounds ; cost 

$6.50 per gross ton, or 29 cents per hundred 

net 229.68 .07 7-10 

Cupola men, and men for breaking and wheeling iron and coal : 

One man breaking and wheeling . . . $2.50 

One man breaking and wheeling . . . 2.00 

One man melting 2-So 

Three laborers melting, at $2.00 . . . 6.00 

$13.00 1. 18 2-10 

Wood for cupola, | of a cord at $7.00 ..... .15 9-10 

Moulding 27.50 

Foreman of moulding shop 2,000.00 .(^ 7-10 

Mounting 7.50 



Amount carried forward. 



$77.32 4-10 



30 

Amount brought forward, $77,324-10 

Foreman of mounting shop $2,000.00 .(i() 7-10 

Engineer, $2.75 per day, 300 days 825.00 .275-10 

Oil and waste 7S-oo .02 5-10. 

Moulding sand, \\ ton at $2.00 .... $3.00 
Fire sand and clay 20 

3.20 .29 I -10 

Facing, i\ bbls. at $3.50 7.87J .71 6-10 

Wheeling, cleaning, and delivering castings at the 

racks 2.10 

Weighing, examining, and piling castings ... .88 8-10 

2.98 8-10 

General labor : — 

Two men carrying flasks, %l.%^\ . . . $3-75 

One man carrying patterns I-87J 

Two men at cinder mills, $1.87^ . . . 3.75 

One man cleaning gangways .... 1.87^ 

11.25 1.02 3-10 

Clerks at foundry, and labor, hoisting, piling, and shipping : — 

One clerk $1,200.00 

One clerk 800.00 

One clerk 500.00 

Five laborers, $600.00 each .... 3,000.00 

$5,500.00 1.83 3-10 

Watchman, 365 days, at $2.00 per day .... 730.00 .24 3-10 

Files $1,500.00 

Tools . 550.00 

Grindstones 100.00 

Emery-wheels 300.00 

Belting . 50.00 

2,500.00 .83 3-10 

Rods, bolts, wire, malleable iron, scrapers, cement, wood 

handles, &c 3.30 

Broken castings, daily, 273 days, 300 

lbs. per day 81,900 lbs. 

Obsolete castings discarded at the end 

of the year 50,000 " 

At 3 cents per pound .... 131,900 $3,957-oo 1.31 9-10 

Amoutit carried forward, $90.83 7-10 



31 

Amount brought forward, $$90.83 7-10 

Repairs of buildings and machinery $2,000.00 .(^ 7-10 

Repairs of iron patterns : — 

Moulding $1.00 

Two fitters 6.00 

One scraper 2.50 

$9.50 300 days 2,850.00 .95 

Repairs of flasks, and keeping the stock 

good : — 

Four men, $3.00 — $12.00 . . 300 days 3,600.00 I.20 

Lumber, nails, screws, &c., for repairs of flasks, 

and for new flasks to keep the old stock good, 1,000.00 .33 3-10 

Cartage of dirt, and sundry cartages not charged, 

S2.20 per day .20 

Rent of foundry and warehouse, 10 per 

cent interest on $80,000 $8,000.00 

Taxes on foundry and warehouse . . 800.00 

$8,800.00 
Insurance on machinery and stock, \\ per cent on 

$75,000 1,125.00 

Gas and oil 700.00 

Stationery and books 300.00 

New wood and iron patterns and flasks .... 9,000.00 

Sundries 1,500.00 

$101.33 
Store expenses, selling, &c. : — 

Rent and taxes on store . . .' . $1,500.00 60 

Clerks 5,000.00 1.66 7-10 

Two travellers 3,500.00 1.16 7-10 

Expenses of same 3,000.00 i.oo 

Porter 600.00 .20 

^-as 300.00 .10 

Ldvertising, circulars, posters, and 
other printing, woodcuts and elec- 
trotypes 8,000.00 2.66 7-10 



2.93 3- 


10 


•37 5- 


10 


•234- 


10 


.10 




3-00 




.50 





Amount carried forward, $7-60 i-io $101.32 9-10 



32 



Amount brought forward, 

Stationery $600.00 

Postage 1,500.00 

Interest on $200,000 capital at 7 per 

cent 14,000.00 

Discount for cash, five per cent on . . 100,000.00 
Allowances, amount of sales, say 
$420,000, at $140 per ton ; 1,400 
customers, at, say, $2.00 each . . . 2,800.00 
Bad debt, i|- per cent on $420,000 . . 6,300.00 
Sundry freights, expressage, and tele- 
graphing during 313 days, at $2 per 

day 626.00 

Legal costs 500.00 

Sundries 2,481.00 



$7.60 I-IO 
.20 
.50 

4.66 7-10 
1.66 7-10 



•93 3-10 
2.10 



.20 9-10 
.16 6-10 
.82 7-10 



From this the following results are obtained : — 



$101.32 9-10 



18.87 i-io 

$120.00 



Stock $45-14 

Labor 43-76 

Tools and Patterns . . . 6.30 

Sundries 24.80 



37tV per cent. 
36rV " 

5x^0 " 

20tV " 



$120.00 100 
Estimated average profits 10 to 15 per cent. 



A profit of twelve and a half 
per cent on the cost, ;^ 120.00 
per ton, would give an aver- 
age price for the product, of 
^135.00. 

Upon Mr. Sayler's plan of 
estimating the cost of manu- 
factured articles, as being com- 
posed of material and labor 
only, the net profit upon this 



branch of industry would be 
fifty-one and eight-tenths per 
cent, instead of ten to fifteen 
per cent ; and, for the correct- 
ness of this statement, I refer 
to the stove manufacturers of 
our country. 

For the purpose of ascer- 
taining, to some extent, the 
sentiments of persons familiar 



33 



with the subject, I lately ad- 
dressed a series of questions to 
several who are engaged re- 
spectively in different pursuits, 
relative to the effect of our Pat- 
, ent System, both upon invent- 
I'ors, and upon the public, and 
what would be the probable 
effect, if the bill proposed by Mr. 
Sayler should become a law. 

The first inquiry was as 
follows : — 

I. Name of valuable inveniiotts 
for which the hiventors have not 
made 7noney, directly or indirectly j 
also cases in which they have realized 
a handsome income on the same, and 
expended it on further inventions j 
also name of any i7tventors who 
have been ruined in producing valu- 
able inventions. 

I quote the following re- 
pHes : — 

[From an Attorney.] 

" There are numerous cases 
in which inventors have failed 
to receive any considerable re- 
muneration for valuable inven- 
tions, and others in which they 
have received more or less, but 
expended it in further inven- 
tion, 

" But probably more striking 
3 



examples than any which now 
occur to me will be furnished 
by others to whom your Circu- 
lar is addressed. Among the 
cases, however, where invent- 
ors have been ruined in pro- 
ducing valuable inventions, I 
cannot forbear to mention that 
of Elisha T. Kneeland, the in- 
ventor of the machine for 
making lead pipe, who, just as 
he had attained success, was 
obliged to sell his entire inter- 
est in the machine, and also in 
the invention, to pay the debts 
he had contracted in its pro- 
duction." 

[From a Manufacturer.] 

" I had some fifteen Patents 
in my own right, which, in 
preparing to manufacture the 
goods, together with the great 
expense and trouble in intro- 
ducing them to the market, 
have cost me, in the preparation 
of new tools and machines, and 
other incidental matters, more 
money than I ever have, or 
probably ever shall, through- 
out the duration of said Pat- 
ents, realize as profits on the 
same. 



34 



" I am now in quest of new- 
Patents, both here and in Eu- 
rope, for new inventions; and 
am now expending large sums 
in preparing to make and sell 
goods under the same. 

" I have, on some few of my 
Patents, reahzed some profits, 
but expended much more, 
which, it is probable, I may 
never see returned. 

" I have been ruined more 
than once in my efforts to in- 
troduce these various improve- 
ments, though I have never 



failed ultimately to pay all my 
debts." 

Note. — Has not this man been a public 
benefactor ? Has he not conferred great bene- 
fits upon the people, which have cost them 
nothing? Would it be just to allow an indis- 
criminate use of his successful Patents by the 
payment of a royalty, to be fixed by the gov- 
ernment? Nothing could be more unjust. 

Another correspondent gives 
a list of twenty-six cases ; 
but, as none of them have any 
special reputation, I will omit 
the details. The result is as 
follows : — 



14 brought no return. 

3 paid expenses. 

4 paid indirectly to the manufacturer. 
I realized $2,000. 

I realized $2,500. 

3 are producing fair royalties. 

26 



It appears, that, in these 
cases, several of the patentees 
were ruined in their efforts for 
improvement ; so that the bal- 
ance of the account will be 
found in this, as in most other 
cases of like character, largely 
on the wrong side. 

Investigation will show that 
Patents are almost as uncer- 



tain as the wind in their pecu- 
niary results ; while in their 
material results, as promoting 
our national glory and progress, 
their success has been unex- 
ampled. 

The rewards are unequally 
and frequently unjustly divided ; 
and the same may be said of 
the general division, in this 



35 



world, of property and prosper- 
ity ; but this belongs to a dis- 
pensation of things which Hes 
beyond human control. 

[From a Manufacturer,] 

" We are engaged in improv- 
ing and manufacturing a spe- 
cial branch of plumbing work, 
and have been so for eighteen 
years past. 

" We have expended large 
sums of money in taking out 
Patents, and in perfecting old 
Patents, and in protecting the 
same. 

" We own fifteen Patents, and 
have only during the past two 
years begun to realize any ben- 
efits from them." 

The second inquiry was as 
follows : — 

2. The name of inventions in agri- 
culture, commerce, inanufactures, and 
the mechanic arts, of the greatest 
public Jitility. 

[From an Attorney.] 

"Among some of the most 
important inventions of the 
present age, I will mention, in 
agriciilUire, the mowing-ma- 
chine, invented by Ketchum, 
and improved by Forbush ; the 



reaping-machine, with which 
McCormick and others are in- 
separably associated ; in com- 
merce, the steamboat by Fulton, 
the telegraph by Morse, and the 
locomotive by Stephenson ; in 
the mechanic arts, the sewing- 
machine by Howe, and im- 
proved by ^Wilson, Fitzgerald, 
and others. Numerous others 
might be mentioned, with 
which you are equally familiar." 

[From another Manufacturer.] 

" Mowing and reaping ma- 
chines, corn and potato plant- 
ers, windmills, steam-machinery, 
railroads," &c. 

The third inquiry : — 
3. Capital required to itttroduce 
inve?ttio7is, and the effect that open 
co7}ipetition would have upon such 
investment of capital. 

[From an Attorney.] 

"To my knowledge, large 
amounts of capital are often re- 
quired to introduce inventions, 
and properly put them before 
the public. In some cases a 
hundred thousand dollars is not 
more than is necessary for the 
inauguration of the enterprise, 
while, of course, in other cases, 



36 



a much less sum is quite suffi- 
cient. 

" It is a very common thing 
for capitalists to refuse to in- 
vest money in such enterprises, 
until they can be assured of 
the protection of a Patent. 
Many such cases have occurred 
under my own immediate ob- 
servation. 

" In my opinion, the effect of 
open competition upon such in- 
vestments of capital would be, 
that comparatively few men 
would be willing to incur the 
risk, the expense and the losses 
incident to the extensive in- 
troduction of a new invention, 
simply to teach their neighbors 
how to make money by their 
experience, as soon as the in- 
vention proved a success," 

[From another Manufacturer.] 

" If an invention be like the 
' Creamer Safety Break,' or 
any thing of that character, a 
large amount of capital, labor, 
and perseverance, is required." 

[From still Another.] 

" If the Patent System in the 
United States was to be mate- 
rially curtailed, it would destroy 



the ambition of inventors, and 
place us back in the dormant 
position of past ages, so far as 
relates to improvements, 

" To make new articles re- 
quires additional capital ; and 
to introduce them in competi- 
tion with those of estabhshed 
reputation, and with the oppo- 
sition of merchants holding 
such stocks, is always found to 
be expensive and difficult," 

[From a noted Inventor.] 

" It is my impression, from 
having visited personally a 
large proportion of all the man- 
ufacturing establishments in 
the United States, that full 
three-fourths, and perhaps more, 
of the capital thus invested, 
has been attracted by the pro- 
tection offered to Patents ; 
also, that, by this protection, 
manufacturers are warranted 
in making a great outlay for 
the best machinery, by which 
means they can not only make 
a far better article than could 
be otherwise made, but they 
can furnish the article to the 
public for one-half, and some- 
times one-fifth, or even one- 



37 



tenth, the cost to make an arti- 
cle of a poorer quality, with- 
out the machinery, and still 
make a fair business profit 
by systematizing the business, 
and doing it upon a large 
scale. 

" Without any protection 
they would, in my judgment, be 
as insane as would a person 
who should expend his money 
and time in the building of 
costly dwellings on lands for 
which he possessed no shadow 
of title. 

"I feel quite sure that the 
unparalleled success of this 
country is, to a very considera- 
ble extent, due to the encour- 
agement which Congress has 
given to inventors in order to 
promote the progress of the 
useful arts. 

" Congress in its wisdom has 
foreseen the necessity of sur- 
rounding authors and inventors 
with the surest protection pos- 
sible ; and therefore it reserved 
to itself the supreme control 
of their rights, as it did of no 
other class of persons or proper- 
ty. And who does not see that 
this very provision has given 



this country a degree of pros- 
perity not known in ftny other 
country in the world .'' Stop 
this protection, and you shut 
up numbers of the large manu- 
facturing establishments which 
now contribute so materially to 
our national prosperity." 

[From a large Manufacturer.] 

" It has required a large cap- 
ital to introduce my goods, and 
for machinery to manufacture 
the same. The cost for con- 
testing the validity of my Pat- 
ents, and preventing infringe- 
ments, has been great. The 
effect of an open competition 
would be to stop the progress 
of improvement." 

[From an Attorney.] 

" The effect of open compe- 
tition upon the investment of 
capital in the introduction of 
inventions would, in my opin- 
ion, be detrimental. It would 
deter capitalists from invest- 
ing in such enterprises ; and 
the inventor, together with 
the most valuable inventions, 
would seek the required aid in 
vain." 



38 



The fourth inquiry : — 

4. The -proportion of inventions 
upon which any profit whatever is 
realized to inventor or manufac- 
turer. 

[From an Inventor.] 

" I should think about one- 
eighth made some profit. The 
balance hardly pay the cost of 
Patent fees. About two per 
cent may be said to be really 
profitable." 

[From a Manufacturer.] 

" From my information and 
experience, I fully believe that 
not one-tenth of all the Patents 
issued in the United States 
ever give the inventor any 
profits." 

[From an Inventor,] 

" I do not remember a single 
inventor who died after the ex- 
piration of his Patent, that left 
any property to show for it, 
unless he .made it by the 
manufacture of the article ; 
and that profit he could have 
made in common with others 
without any Patent. 



"The men who purchase a 
right to use a Patent proceed 
at once to realize something 
on the invention ; while the 
patentee is at all times expend- 
ing his money for still further 
improvements. 

" Neither do I know of a 
single Patent in which the ma- 
chine or article made from it 
was sold any cheaper by reason 
of the Patent having expired. 
It is far more for the interest, 
or at least in accordance with 
the inclination of the patentee, 
to attempt to produce the 
cheapest as well as the best 
article, than the one who sim- 
ply manufactures the articles 
to sell. 

" In my opinion, it should 
be the policy of Congress to 
extend the Patent of every 
man who took sufficient inter- 
est in it to ask for an exten- 
sion ; since it would tend to 
produce a competition among 
the owners of Patents to pro- 
duce the best and cheapest 
articles, while it would greatly 
stimulate invention, in order 
to excel articles already in 



39 



[From a Manufacturer.] 

" In our case we have had to 
pay such large sums for pro- 
tecting and sustaining our Pat- 
ents, that we have not realized 
large, or even fair profits. We 
believe the proportion of Pat- 
ents upon which any profit is 
realized is small ; have heard 
it stated at one in a hundred 
of good paying Patents ; and I 
judge, from my own experience 
and observation, that this is 
about a fair estimate." 

[From an Attorney.] 

" The proportion of inven- 
tions upon which any profit 
over and above the labor and 
expense of perfecting the same, 
and procuring the Patent there- 
for, and of the efforts to intro- 
duce it, is realized to inventors, 
is very small, probably not ex- 
ceeding one-tenth, and perhaps 
not one-twentieth. Of the ten 
or twelve thousand Patents 
that are granted annually, I 
doubt if over five hundred of 
them reahze to the inventors 
any profit, certainly not what 
they could have realized if the 
same time, labor, and money 



had been expended and in- 
vested in other legitimate 
mercantile or mechanical em- 
ployments. The Patents which 
are very lucrative to inventors 
or manufacturers are compara- 
tively few. 

" Some of these few have be- 
come, after long and toilsome 
years, and the investment of 
immense capital, very remuner- 
ative and profitable. While 
these few are known and pub- 
lished abroad, the eighty or 
ninety per cent are not noticed 
or taken into account. 

" I think it is safe to say 
that full eighty out of every 
hundred of the Patents granted 
in this country fail to realize 
to the inventor or the manu- 
facturer any profit whatever, 
— I might say the first or early 
manufacturer; for as soon as 
it is ascertained that a newly- 
patented article will not pay to 
manufacture, that the demand 
will not warrant the establish- 
ment of large works, and the 
investment of large capital, the 
enterprise is dropped. But it 
often happens that manufac- 
turers' calculations are sadly 



40 



disappointed ; and after large 
amounts have been invested 
in buildings, materials, tools, 
&c., the foundation, the sub- 
ject on which success depends, 
proves a phantom and a fail- 



The fifth inquiry. 

5. The effect of a legal enactment 
permitting the general use of pat- 
ented invetttions tipon payjne7it of 
a royalty of ten per cent zipon the 
value of the article tnanufacturedj 
the Patent to re7nain in force but 
seven years. 

[From an Attorney.] 

" I think that a law permit- 
ting the general use of pat- 
ented inventions, upon the 
payment of a royalty of ten 
per cent upon the value of the 
articles, would be disastrous to 
the last degree. 

" In the first place it gives 
no exclusive privilege to any 
one, and consequently takes 
away the inducement which 
capitalists now have to expend 
money in the introduction of 
new inventions. In the second 
place, it is not a fair standard 
of value. Some might be worth 



more; while a much larger 
number would be dear at half 
that amount. 

" Furthermore, in many 
cases the chief value of the 
invention consists in the ex- 
clusive right to use a machine 
in a particular territory. A 
patented planing-machine may 
furnish a good and familiar 
example. The exclusive right 
to use one such machine in 
Albany County might be worth 
one hundred thousand dollars, 
while the exclusive right to 
use an exactly similar ma- 
chine in Wyoming County 
might not be worth five thou- 
sand ; and yet it costs the 
same to build the machine in 
both cases. 

" To make a law, then, 
throwing inventions open to 
the public, upon payment of ten 
per cent upon the value of 
the articles in a general mar- 
ket, would, in my opinion, be 
seriously unjust, as well as un- 
fortunate. Seven years is not 
generally sufficient time for the 
introduction of an invention, 
and the remuneration of an 
inventor."' 



a: 
41 



[From an Inventor.] 

" As a rule, I should think 
this plan unfavorable. It 
would produce litigation, com- 
plication, and trouble." 

[From a Manufacturer.] 

" Were such a plan adopted, 
I feel confident that not more 
than one Patent would be is- 
sued where there are now fifty, 
and hence the comparative non- 
use of the present system." 

[From an Inventor.] 

" As to any attempt — for any 
cause short of the government 
purchasing the Patent, and 
thus insuring a proper remu- 
neration to the inventor — to 
shorten the life of a Patent, I 
should think about as wise as 
to pass laws that all purchases 
of property from the public 
domain hereafter should be 
held by the purchaser for a 
period of only seven years, 
and should then revert to the 
government." 

[From a Manufacturer.] 

"Such a law would, in our 
opinion, actually kill the Pat- 
ent business. C^It generally 
takes as long as seven years 



to introduce a new patented 
article." 

[From an Attorney.] 

" The effect of any enact- 
ment which shall permit the 
general use of patented inven- 
tions, upon payment of a roy- 
alty of ten per cent upon the 
value of the article manufac- 
tured, the Patent to remain in 
force only seven years, would, 
in my judgment, be almost 
equivalent to stopping 'the 
wheels of time.' It would 
dry up all the sources of im- 
provement in manufactures 
and the mechanic arts, and so 
paralyze and cripple the ge- 
nius of our country as to stop 
progress at once. How shall 
an inventor in the New-En- 
gland States know who is 
using his invention in the 
West or the South 1 

" How shall the latter be 
made to account to the for- 
mer .!* 

" Our Patent Laws are, for 
the most part, well enough as 
they are. They should not be 
changed except upon great 
deliberation." 



42 



The sixth inquiry : — 

6. The average net profit upon 
specified patented articles^ after pay- 
ment of interest on capital em- 
ployed, and every contingency. 



[From an Inventor.] 

" Taking all patented inven- 
tions into account, the average 
would be a loss, in my judg- 
ment. Among those that are 
profitable, I should think they 
might average ten per cent." 

[From a Manxifacturer.] 

" I have been twenty-five 
years manufacturing patented 
articles, and have spent very 
much more money than I have 
received from them ; and I 
am assured that my own is an 
average experience, taking into 
account the frequent heavy 
payments to be made to the 
legal profession for services 
rendered in the defence and 
maintenance of rights." 

[From another Manufacturer.] 

" We think about ten per 
cent, after paying interest upon 
capital." 



[From an Attorney.] 

" I might, had I the time, 
specify a few patented articles 
upon which the net profit is 
large, over and above all ex- 
penses and contingencies ; but 
I could give you a much long- 
er list of those that do not pay 
five per cent, and a still longer 
one of those that do not pay 
any thing. 

" The company owning Phil- 
ips's Corn-Husking Machine 
have built a hundred of them, 
only to find out that they were 
insufficient for the work. They 
have expended a large amount 
in perfecting and bringing this 
machine to public notice, and 
as yet have no returns. 
\ " So with the Paper Car 
Wheel, a valuable invention, 
without doubt ; but the com- 
pany who have recently erected 
fine buildings in Hudson, for 
the manufacture of this wheel, 
and have all the machinery 
fitted for the work, have yet a 
great deal to do and to suffer, 
before getting their wheel into 
general use. What if the prof- 
its of the manufacture of the 
wheel are large } If there is no 



43 



demand for them, it avails noth- 
ing. It takes money, time, 
and hard work, to introduce a 
new invention of any impor- 
tance or value." 

The seventh inquiry : — 

7. Cite cases showing that the 
public are not compelled to pay un- 
reasonable profits upojt the cost of 
patented articles of pri)7ze necessity. . 

'. [From an Attorney.] 

" This may be answered, per- 
haps, as well by reference to 
lamps, as to any article of man- 
ufacture. There is scarcely 
a lamp made at the present 
time, that is not subject to one 
or more patents ; and yet they 
are sold very cheap, cheaper 
than ever before." 

[From a Manufacturer.] 

" Heavy stocks of old goods 
on hand compel the manufac- 
turers of new patented articles 
to peddle them over the coun- 
try at a heavy cost in order to 
create a sale for them. 

" The Patent is for the benefit 
of all alike, enabling the manu- 
facturer to perfect his articles, 
and charge a price corre- 
sponding with same ; while the 



is m open competition 
reach the market in a half- 
built and comparatively worth- 
less condition." 

[From another Manufacturer.] 

" In the case of the special 
articles of plumbing work be- 
fore referred to, we do not con- 
sider that they pay more than 
ten per cent ; for the public get 
more than that actual benefit 
from s,uch articles. Through 
these patented improvements, 
the cost of putting up the same 
has been reduced to about one- 
half of what it was formerly." 

The eighth inquiry : — 

8. Would capital embark iti the 
mamtfacture of neiv inventions un- 
less protected by Letters Patent? 

[From an Attorney.] 

" In my opinion, capitalists 
would generally be unwilling 
to invest their money in the 
manufacture of new inventions, 
unless protected by Letters 
Patent." 

[From an Inventor.] 

" For myself I would not 
undertake the introduction of 



V 
44 



any new article, unless, after 
the great trouble resulting from 
the same, I could hope for 
permanent reward." 

[From a Manufacturer.] 

" Emphatically no ! " 

[From another Manufacturer.] 

" It would not." 

[From an Attorney. ]- 

" It is my decided opinion 
that capital would not embark 
in the manufacture of new 
inventions, to any extent, were 
it not for the protection prom- 
ised, and supposed to be afford- 
ed, by Letters Patent. The 
idea of a monopoly of the 
invention stimulates the invent- 
or to labor, and\to persevere 
even to the ruin of his present 
pecuniary condition, and en- 
courages capitalists to invest 
in the manufacture of patented 
articles, when, if not so pro- 
tected, few inventions would 
be perfected, and it would be 
difficult to induce capital to 
embark in those that were per- 
fected, for the reason that 
competition would soon de- 
stroy the remunerative profits 



that the pioneers and originat- 
ors deserve and require to pay 
them not only for the risk, but 
for the loss in time and ex- 
pense, in trials and experi- 
ments, always attendant upon 
new and untried enterprises." 

'^I will now proceed to con- 
sider somewhat in detail the 
statements made by Mr. Sayler 
in respect to the profits real- 
ized in the manufacture and 
sale of certain patented articles 
as based upon the census re- 
ports of 1870, and to show, by 
the same questionable authori- 
ty, the general range of profits 
realized in the manufacture 
and sale of certain unpatented 
articles. 

'^FiRST, It is not true that 
"the owner of a Patent^ right 
is lord of all he surveys.",' 

I. The inventive genius of 
our people does not allow any 
monopoly long to continue. 
Something will be made to 
equal or excel a former inven- 
tion, which is not subordinate 
to it ; or an improvement will 
be made in some important 
feature of the machine, there- 



45 



by compelling an amicable 
division. 

2. it is an exception when 
the owner of a Patent does not 
allow others to put the same in 
practice, upon the payment of 
a reasonable royalty. 

3. If this permission is not 
freely given, the use of the in- 
vention is too often taken with- 
out consent ; and, in a contest 
of capital against poverty, the 
former is generally triumph- 
ant. 

Second, It is not true, as a 
rule, that owners of Patents 
" desire to wrench from the 
labor of the country the lar- 
gest possible percentage." 

Patentees, like the rest of 
the world, are doubtless fond 
of making money ; but they 
are generally wise enough to 
discover that such a method 
of securing it will not bring 
the greatest permanent suc- 
cess, as it will surely invite 
competition in some form. His 
Honor Judge Emmons has 
lately said, " We cannot speak 
with great certainty, but do 
affirm with much confidence, 
that the expenses paid in our 



country for Patent litigations 
are rapidly approximating the 
entire sum demanded for royal- 
ties." 

Investigation will show that 
the manufacturers of patented 
articles do not generally, at the 
best, realize more than a rea- 
sonable income for the risk 
incurred ; and, further, that 
only a small proportion ever 
see any return for their in- 
vestments in such enter- 
prises. 

The few who are successful 
come prominently into public 
notice ; while the many who 
fail, or are only partially suc- 
cessful, are not heard of. 

Of the 1 70,000 Patents which 
have been issued by our Gov- 
ernment since July 31, 1790, 
can it be doubted, that by far 
the largest proportion have 
proved unremunerative ? 

Third, The unrestricted lib- 
erty to put in practice new 
inventions would bring upon 
the market a large amount of 
indifferent work, thus injuring 
by competition, instead of ben- 
efiting the public. 



46 



In the case of machines em- 
bodying newly-discovered prin- 
ciples and adaptations, where 
a vast amount of laborious and 
costly experiment must be 
made before a perfected result, 
which will be acceptable to the 
public is produced, nothing can 
be attempted, except by capi- 
talists ; and these would be 
quite certain to withhold their 
aid, unless assured, for a limited 
time at least, of governmental 
protection. 

Little is known by the pub- 
lic of the trials, the disappoint- 



ments, and the losses of invent- 
ors and those who attempt to 
perfect and introduce patented 
articles. I believe that an in- 
vestigation would show, that 
the balance of the Patent ac- 
count of this country is very 
largely on the wrong sid^ 

The cost of obtaining the 
twelve thousand Patents and 
re-issues granted during the 
year 1874, including the time 
devoted to these inventions, 
may be safely estimated at 
four and a half millions ; 
say, — 



12,000 models at $25 $300,000.00^ 

12,000 patent -md attorneys' fees at $roo 1,200000.00 

12,000 inventors' time, each fifty days, at $5 per day . . . .3,000,000.00 



$4,500,000.00 



Of this large number, how 
small a proportion have, or 
ever will achieve, even a mod- 
erate success ! 

Could the history of the dis- 
appointments and disasters ex- 
perienced by the inventors and 
manufacturers of the sewing- 
machine, the mower, the 
harvester, the cotton-gin, and 
other great inventions, be 



portrayed in all their sombre 
shades, the subsequent success 
which has ' attended them 
would be gracefully accepted, 
as but a small return for the 
untold blessings which they 
have conferred, and will con- 
tinue to confer upon the world. 
If, in the early days of these 
and similar machines, such an 
unrestricted liberty to put them 



47 



in practice had been allowed as 
proposed in the bill, the coun- 
try would have been flooded 
with constructions valueless to 
the public, inflicting an injury 
and loss a hundred-fold greater 
than any apparent amount of 
excessive profits that can now 
be shown. 

After all this expenditure of 
labor and capital in perfecting, 
and placing upon a substantial 
basis, such inventions, it is 
quite probable that the general 
public who have stood by, and 
jeered perhaps at the supposed 
folly of those who have risked 
their all in these enterprises, 
'would then be glad to enjoy 
tbe fruits without much cost. 

The simple questions are, — 

1. Would such a course be 
just.? And, 

2. Would it encourage fur- 
ther efforts for improvements ? 

Fourth, The bill proposes 
that a royalty of ten per cent 
shall be fixed by law upon the 
market value of the article 
manufactured, which embodies 
but one Patent, and where 
more than one is embodied, 



that the respective royalties 
shall be fixed by the United 
States District Court. 

That such an act of tyran- 
ny would be unconstitutional 
must be evident to the com- 
mon sense of the people of 
this country. 

That it is altogether imprac- 
ticable must be equally clear, 
as well as that its effect would 
be to promote litigation. 

In the adjusting of royalties 
upon the Patents in use at the 
present time, there probably 
could not be found two cases 
in which the percentage upon 
the market value of the article 
would be the same. 

I own a valuable Patent upon 
an article of manufacture, — 

I charge fifty cents upon 
those sold by retail at $2$, and 
a dollar upon those sold at 
^50. This is two and a half per 
cent ; and it is about on this 
basis that all royalties are paid 
for the use of Patents. 

In the payment of such roy- 
alties, the manufacturer should 
add to his prices, say, 75 cents 
and $1.2$ each. I think this 
rate is never exceeded, and, 



48 



more generally, not real- 
ized. 

The same principle is applied 
to other constructions. Mr. 
Howe struggled through many 
years of poverty while perfect- 
ing his sewing-machine ; but 
the royalties he received did 
not exceed, during the life of 
his Patents, an average of ^3.00, 
and, during the term of his ex- 
tension, but ^i.oo each. 

Has any woman in the land 
ever begrudged this pittance 
for the boon which he had 
given to her sex, or even the 
large profits, if you please, of 
the manufacturers during the 
early years of the enterprise ? 

As well might it be at- 
tempted to establish judicially 
the rate for wages, or the price 
of commodities. These must 
all be left to demand and sup- 
ply, and to the ten thousand 
shades of difference, which can 
only be adjusted as the circum- 
stances arise, and by the parties 
interested. 

The bill further provides, 
"that the person so using the 
Patent shall protect the owner, 
by filing in the Patent Office a 



bond \n the sum of ^io,coo, 
conditioned upon the account- 
ing every six months for the 
royalty, and the payment there- 
of." Could any plan be more 
skilfully devised than this to 
aid the rich and embarrass the 
poor manufacturer.?. 

If the friends of the Patent 
System had introduced such a 
proposition in addition to that 
of increasing the percentage 
of royalties at least fourfold of 
the average now paid, it would 
have justly roused public in- 
dignation. 

How many thousands of poor 
mechanics throughout the land 
who are now using patented in- 
ventions, and paying the owners 
for the same under mutual 
agreement, would be utterly un- 
able to give bonds for ^10,000, 
which would be satisfactory to 
the Commissioner of Patents ? 
Such a requirement would rob 
them of the most lucrative part 
of their business, and transfer 
it to their rich competitors. 

Again : the inequality of 
such a statute will be apparent 
in view of the diverse amounts 
annually due respectively, for 



49 



royalties. They might be ^5,000 
or ^50,000: therefore a bond of 
$10,000 might be greatly in ex- 
cess of the amount, or entirely 
inadequate as security for the 
same. 

Again : it is provided, that in 
case the inventions covered 
by a plurality of Patents are 
adopted in one machine, and 
the first adjustment of the 
royalty by the District Court is 
not satisfactory to the owners 
of the same, " they may, on 
thirty days' notice, have a re- 
adjustment, which shall be 
final." 

The utter impossibility of 
any court, however able or 
learned, to make such an ad- 
justment as shall be mutually 
satisfactory to the manufactur- 
er, and also to half a score of 
patentees, is apparent to any 
practical mind ; as is also the 
absurdity of attempting to fix 
values by law, which " shall be 
final." 

These ten Patents to-day 
have a certain value : to-mor- 
row that value is materially 
changed by the advent of new 
inventions and new combina- 
4 



tions, as well as by new public 
demands. 

No fixed law could be carried 
into practice for the proper 
adjustment of these intricate 
questions. 

Fifth, Mr. Sayler presents 
certain statistical statements, 
based upon the last census, for 
the purpose of proving that 
exorbitant profits are realized 
by manufacturers upon patent- 
ed articles. 

He assumes the correctness 
of the authority by adopting 
conclusions from the same, 
without any qualifications. 

Let us see, for a moment, 
what the superintendent of the 
census says about the returns 
made of our manufacturing 
industry, and to what extent 
they are worthy of confidence. 

" The collection of manufac- 
turing statistics is made merely 
an incident to the enumera- 
tion of population, and, like all 
other duties incidental, is cer- 
tain to be neglected, more or 
less, in all but the rarest 
cases. . . . 



50 



"The assistant marshal, as- 
suming that he is zealous and 
faithful in his general service, 
carries about the manufactur- 
ing schedule as a tedious and 
unwelcome duty, — a duty to 
be discharged in the cheapest 
and easiest manner. . . . 

" The rates of compensation 
being most inadequate, in re- 
spect to the return of manu- 
factures, this part of the cen- 
sus suffers most from this 
cause. ... 

" The investigation of the 
census ofHce, conducted at 
great disadvantage, discovered 
not a few cases where less than 
one-half of the establishments 
of productive industry by law 
subject to enumeration had 
been returned, or even visited 
by the assistant marshals. . . . 

" The census returns of capi- 
tal invested in manufactures 
is entirely untrustworthy and 
delusive. The inquiry is one 
which it is not too much to 
say, that it ought never to be 
embraced in the schedules of 
the census ; not merely for the 
reason that the results are, and 
must remain, wholly worthless, 



. . . but also because the in- 
quiry in respect to capital 
creates more prejudice, and 
arouses more opposition to the 
progress of the enumeration, 
than all the other inquiries 
of the manufacturing schedule 
united. . . . 

" No man in business knows 
what he is worth, far less can 
say what portion of his estate 
is to be treated as capital. 

"The aggregate amount of 
capital invested in manufac- 
tures in the United States, as 
by the following tables, is $2,~ 
118,208,769. 

" It is doubtful whether this 
sum represents one-fourth of 
the capital actually contribut- 
ing to the annual gross prod- 
ucts of ^4,232,325,442." 

These few extracts, to which 
many more rnight be added of 
the same character, indicate 
the low estimate which the 
superintendent places upon the 
correctness of the returns of 
our manufacturing industry. 

It is not probable that one 
manufacturer in twenty-five 
could state with any certainty 



51 



the amount of capital employed 
in his business, or the amount 
paid for labor or for materials, 
or what the annual profits are 
upon the capital invested. 

The general ignorance of 
manufacturers as to the actual 
cost, in detail, of their goods, 
is almost beyond belief. How, 
then, can reports be made to 
the marshals which are reliable, 
as a basis for the settling of 
important points in political 
economy .-' 

Waiving, however, for the 
present, this question, I will 
proceed to submit in a tabular 
form a detailed statement in re- 
spect to the five patented arti- 
cles, the two unpatented articles, 
and the total amount of our 
manufacturing industry, as cited 
from the census reports by Mr. 
Sayler. 

We gain from these tables 
two points : — 

I. That, according to the 
census reports, many classes of 
manufactures which are open 
to the public, pay a much 
larger income on the capital 
invested than the best of those 



which are protected by Patents ; 
and, 

2. That the superintendent 
is quite correct in his admission 
that " the returns of manufac- 
turing statistics are entirely un- 
trustworiJiy and delusive ^ 

It is very evident that Mr. 
Sayler has had no experience 
in manufacturing, or he would 
not have ventured the state- 
ment, that the cost is repre- 
sented by the amount paid for 
labor and materials, and that the 
balance of the amount realized 
from the sale of the product is 
net profit, though he qualifies 
this statement by adding, " This 
is not the absolute net profit, 
but approximates to it." This 
method of arriving at results 
will not bear the test of in- 
vestigation. 

PATENT MEDICINES. 

This compounded product 
Mr. Sayler reports as paying a 
profit of one hundred and eigh- 
teen per cent upon the capital 
invested, and as one of the five 
patented articles which consti- 
tute one twenty-second of the 



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net aggregate profits of all our 
manufacturing industry. 

Taking the census report as 
our authority, we find that these 
profits represent one twenty- 
sixth of the whole; but this 
difference is not material. 

Upon the basis of this report, 



the profits shown upon the fol- 
lowing non-patented articles of 
correspondingly small value, 
would seem to prove that the 
manufacturers of Patent Medi- 
cines are by no means unrea- 
sonable in their demands ; 
viz., — 



On confectionery io2yS„ per cent. 

On fancy soaps and perfumery . . 74^7^ " 

On blacking loSfV " 

On pocket-books 985-'^ " 

On fans ^^'^ys " 

Or an average profit of c/S^^ per cent. 



RUBBER GOODS. 

Mr. Sayler reports the prof- 
its upon this class of manu- 
facture at fifty-nine per' cent. 
The true amount as reported 



by the census is sixty-one and 
one-tenth per cent. 

Compare the reported prof- 
its upon similar articles not 
patented. 



On saddlery and harness .... 683^^ per cent. 

On clothing 66^^ " 

On hats and caps 92iV " 

On boots and shoes 73^^ " 

On trunks and valises ^^^j^ " 

Or an average of 84 j^^. per cent. 



According to this statement, 
the charge of extortion cannot 
be" maintained against the 
manufacturers of rubber goods, 
who, as it appears, only ask 
a profit of sixty-one and one- 



tenth per cent ; while the manu- 
facturers of the five classes 
above named, which are not 
patented, demand an average 
profit of eighty-four and two- 
tenths per cent. 



56 



If those " two hundred or 
three hundred dentists in 
Indiana" had respected the 
rights of the owner of the hard 
rubber Patent, which they well 
understood the Supreme Court 
had sustained, they would have 
been saved the cost and trouble 
complained of, and, perhaps, 
some portion of the " amount 
of blood demanded." 

The application of Vulcanite 
to the art of Dentistry, by Cum- 
mings, conferred a blessing of 
untold value to the world. 

The profession had unsuc- 
cessfully experimented with 
other substances for years ; and 
when this was discovered, and 
brought to their attention, they 
should have cheerfully paid the 
trifling sum that was due to 
the genius and perseverance of 
the inventor. His efforts to per- 
fect and secure his invention, 
and to protect it from infringers, 
were made at the sacrifice of 
both health and property. His 
Honor Judge Emmons, in a 
late decision, says, " At that 
time Cummings had become in- 
solvent, and his health seriously 
impaired, by chronic disease. 



which ultimately terminated his 
life. 

" The testimony leaves no 
room for doubt, that, after this 
period, he wholly ceased to fur- 
nish any considerable part of 
the support of his family. His 
wife's small separate property 
was first mortgaged, and then 
sold, to procure what is proved 
to be the small and sometimes 
too scanty expenditure upon 
which they lived. The praise- 
worthy efforts of his wife as 
the keeper of a boarding-house, 
the pawning of her few personal 
ornaments, and her general care 
and support of a diseased and 
dispirited husband, present a 
picture as affecting as it is 
demonstrative of Cummings's 
inability, from sheer poverty, to 
prosecute his appHcation." 

This is substantially the his- 
tory of thousands, the results of 
whose labors and sacrifices we 
are now so freely enjoying. 

HOUSE ORGANS. 

It is alleged that the cruel 
and bloodthirsty manufactur- 
ers of house organs demand a 
net profit of sixty-one per 



57 



cent, and refuse to abate one 
"jot or tittle," be the cries for 
" music, which is so dear to 
the human breast," ever so 
pressing. 

It is a pity to spoil this flight 
of fancy by stating that the 
profits on house organs and 
melodeons, as stated by the 



census reports, are only twenty- 
four and one-tenth per cent, 
or considerably less than one- 
half the amount stated by Mr. 
Sayler. 

Let us now compare the 
reports from the same authen- 
tic source upon similar articles 
not patented. 



On musical instruments generally . 41 ^V per cent. 

On pianos 38^5- " 

On furniture 5 1 ^^^ " 

On clocks loo/o " 

On carpentry and building . . . . 150^*^ " 



It therefore appears that the 
manufacturers of these five 
classes which are unrestricted, 
demand an average profit upon 
the capital invested of seventy- 
six and five-tenths per cent ; 
while house organs and melo- 
deons pay but twenty-four and 
one-tenth per cent, or less than 
one-third of that amount. 

SEWING-MACHINES. 

This great invention, the one 
of all others which has blest 
the poor " toilers by the mid- 
night lamp," appears to have 



incurred the particular dis- 
pleasure of Mr. Sayler. 

The census returns show 
upon this branch of industry a 
profit of sixty-seven and three- 
tenths per cent, — a moderate 
amount, truly, in comparison 
with the extortionate demands 
of the manufacturers of the 
following -non-patented articles, 
which, if we may believe the 
veracious census reports before 
referred to, pay an average 
profit upon the capital invested 
of a hundred and twenty-nine 
and eight-tenths per cent ; 
viz., — 



58 



On bread and other bakers' products 93i% percent. 

On scales and balances .... ^^ij^ " 

On blacksmithing 1213^ " 

On painting 146 " 

On lead pipe 167^^ " 



Mr. Sayler states, that, in 
1 87 1, 610,000 sewing-machines 
were sold at a profit of ^24 
each, or ^14,640,000. 



The census returns show 
the results of 1870 as fol- 
lows : — 



Products $14,097,446.00 

Paid for materials . $3,055,786.00 
Paid for wages . . 5,142,248.00 

8, 1 98, 034.00 



Profits $5,899,412.00 

578,919 machines sold, averaging a profit of $10.19 each. 



This result is obtained with- 
out any calculation for other 
items of cost. 

It will be observed, that, 
according to the census reports, 
the manufacture of bread and 
other products of the bakery 
is one of the most profitable 
in which capital can engage. 
Articles of such prime neces- 
sity to the people, and espe- 
cially to the " toilers by the 
midnight lamp," should not 
be suffered to pay a profit of 
ninety-three and two-tenths per 
cent. 



If the government is war- 
ranted in establishing the 
prices for any branch of manu- 
factures, this should- receive 
immediate attention. 

The notice of Mr. Sayler is 
especially called to this subject, 
and also to the manufacture 
of cheese, which is reported 
as paying fifty-three and five- 
tenths per cent profit on the 
capital invested. 

AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 

This most important branch 
of our mechanical industry. 



59 



against which Mr. Sayler ap- 
pears to entertain a special 
grudge, he represents as giving 
to the manufacturers the prince- 
ly income of fifty-two per cent. 
In comparison with several 



of the trades which are not 
protected by Patents, but are 
open and free to all the world, 
this is a meagre sum. 

Thus we find the profits: — 



On upholstery . . . 
On shovels and spades 
On watch-cases . . . 
On wheelwrighting . . 
On plastering . . . 



^3to P^"" cent. 

91 « 

240/7 « 



The average profit thus 
shown is a hundred and ten 
and two-tenths per cent, or 
more than double that upon 
agricultural implements, many 
of which have conferred bless- 
ings both upon our farmers 
and our country, millions to 
one beyond all the royalties 
that have been paid upon 
Patents since the organization 
of our government. 

I have already shown that 
the average profit upon the 
capital invested in the five 
classes of patented articles 
specially mentioned by Mr. 
Sayler, as given in the census 
reports, is sixty-three and five- 
tenths per cent. 

Upon the twenty-five classes 



of unpatented articles or in- 
dustries quoted, the average 
profit upon the capital em- 
ployed, as given by the same 
authority, is ninety-nine and 
nine-tenths per cent, or thirty- 
six and four-tenths per cent 
more than upon the former, 
which is claimed to be so un- 
just and extortionate. 

It is scarcely necessary to 
remark, that neither of the 
statements embodied in the 
census reports in respect to 
the profits upon patented or 
unpatented articles is worthy 
of the least confidence : in the 
words of the superintendent, 
they are " entirely imtrustwor- 
thy and dehcsive." 

A true statement of the 



6o 



facts would probably show an 
average income upon the capi- 
tal invested in our mechanical 
industries, of about ten per 
cent. 

Upon patented articles there 
may be realized from two and 
a half to five per cent addi- 
tional ; yet this is by no means 
to be assumed, in view of the 
cost of perfecting and intro- 
ducing new and untried arti- 



cles, and of the uncertainty of 
their success. 

Untold fortunes have been 
wasted in these ventures, as 
well as the lives of thousands 
whose genius and labors for the 
benefit of their race deserved 
a better reward. 

Mr. Sayler states that the five 
patented branches of industry 
to which he has specially re- 
ferred aggregate as follows : — 



Capital • 159,500,000.00 

Net profits 37,828,820.00 

Again : in pig iron : — 

Capital $56,000,000.00 

Net profits 11,666,667.00 

Or less than one-third the profit of the former. 
Again : the same amount invested in cotton goods produced $10,000,000. 



It must be admitted, that 
statements upon which impor- 
tant legislation is to be based 



should be exact, 
fore give the 
ures : — 



Capital employed in five branches of patented articles 

Apparent profit 

Profit on same amount in pig iron at 20^% per cent 
Profit on same amount in cotton goods at 19 per cent 



We there- 
correct fig- 



$58,156,323.00 
36,931,219.00 
12,096,515.00 
11,049,701.00 



Now let us take five unpatented articles, and apply the same rule. 



Capital. 

Boots and shoes $48,994,366.00 

Tobacco 24,924,33000 

Carpenters and builders .... 25,110428.00 

Trunks and valises 2,185964.00 

Lead pipe 2,054,500.00 



Profits. 

$36,088,850.00 

22,790,095 00 

37,788,729.00 

2,599,652.00 

3,443,070.00 



Or 99^ per cent profit. 



$103,269,588.00 $102,710,396.00 



6i 

The same amount of capital invested in the manufacture of 

pig iron would give a return of only $21,480,07400 

And in cotton goods 19,621,222.00 



Mr. Sayler illustrates again. 

" This ;^ 5 9,000,000 of capital 
invested in these five branches 
of patented articles constituted 
one thirty-fifth of the entire 
capital invested in manufac- 
tures in 1870. 

" This produced one twenty- 
second of the net aggregate 
profit." 

To be correct, he should have 
stated it at one thirty-sixth of 
the former, and one twenty- 
sixth of the latter. 

Now take the five branches 
of unpatented articles named 
above. 

The capital invested in these 
constitutes a little more than 
one-twentieth of such entire 
capital; and the profits shown 
on this are a little more than 
one-ninth of the entire aggre- 
gate profits shown upon the 
entire manufacturing interest 
of this country. 

Consider, for a moment, that, 
according to this statement. 



these five unpatented products, 
most of which are articles of 
prime necessity, demand from 
a suffering pubHc nearly one- 
tenth of the amount of profits 
realized upon our whole manu- 
facturing industry. 

But this statement, like the 
former, is a mere fiction. They 
both prove just two things ; 
viz., — 

1. That the superintendent 
was right when he pronounced 
the returns as '^ e7itirely tm- 
tnistworthy and dehcsive." 

2. That Mr. Sayler's state- 
ments are valueless as a basis 
for important action. 

Discussions in the Congress 
of the United States upon 
measures so important as those 
proposed in this bill (No. 1392) 
should be based strictly upon 
facts. 

Neither romance nor rheto- 
ric has any place in the con- 
sideration, or the decision of a 
great question which will not 



62 



only affect millions of our peo- 
ple, but which also utterly ig- 
nores the natural right every 
man possesses to the control 
of the production of his 
brain. 

Read the statement which 
the honorable gentleman delib- 
erately makes in reference to 
this subject : — 

"In any way you may look 
at it, you will find there is a 
duplication every two years. 

" You may burn up and ut- 
terly destroy every agricultural 
implement manufacturing es- 
tablishment in the country, 
and they will yet make four 
per cent on the invested 
amount. 

"Thirty-five millions of capi- 
tal invested in agricultural im- 
plements doubles itself every 
two years, and leaves a net 
profit besides. 

" So it goes on and on and 
on, until, when the ordinary 
life of a Patent right shall have 
expired, more than ^400,000,- 
000 has been made, or nearly 
made, by the original $35,000,- 
000." 



In reply to this most ex- 
traordinary statement, I ven- 
ture to assert, there is not a 
manufacturer of agricultural im- 
plements in the land that has 
made, or will make for five 
or ten consecutive years, an 
annual profit of twenty per 
cent upon his capital ; that by 
far the largest proportion have 
not made ten per cent, while 
numbers have gone into bank- 
ruptcy. 

Mr. Sayler inquires " wheth- 
er, if the commercial commu- 
nity of this country could 
make ten per cent net profit 
upon its sales, it would not be 
amply satisfied." 

No man, except from patri- 
otic motives, or to make him- 
self an occupation, will place 
his capital at the risk of busi- 
ness on a promise of ten per 
cent, when he can loan his 
money on undoubted security 
at ten per cent to twenty per 
cent, as is always the case in 
this country. 

If a business realizes net ten 
per cent, after paying interest 
on capital, and all contingen- 
cies, it is generally considered 



63 



satisfactory, if the magnitude 
is sufficient. 

It makes a great difference, 
however, whether this percent- 
age is on ^5,000, ^50,000, or 
^500,000. 

Agricultural implements, 
sewing-machines, and compli- 
cated machines of all kinds, 
require a larger percentage of 
profit than cotton-cloth or pig- 
iron ; and any manufacturer 
who attempts to make the 
former on a ten per cent profit, 
without interest on his capital, 
will surely end in bankruptcy. 

We have shown, that, accord- 
ing to our census report, the 
income on the capital invested 
in our manufactures is forty-five 
and seven-tenths per cent. 

By the same authority we 
learn that the percentage of 
profits upon the cost of the 
manufactured articles is twenty- 
nine and six-tenths. 

In the eigm cases before 
cited, we find the proportion of 
the cost due to sundries not 
embraced in the census state- 
ment, to be seventeen and a 
half per cent ; thus leaving an 
apparent net profit of twelve 



and one-tenth per cent, which 
is probably not far from the 
truth. 

It is unquestionably true, as 
Mr. Sayler states, that people 
have been swindled by bogus 
Patents and by worthless Pat- 
ents, and they have also by 
worthless stocks and bonds, 
and by confidence-games of 
various kinds ; and this will 
doubtless continue, in one form 
or another, to the end of time. 

The passage of the bill pro- 
posed, or any other bill, wilt 
not prevent operations of this 
kind, while dishonesty exists 
on the one hand, and ignorance 
and incapacity on the other. 

The selling of town or county 
rights in Patents, be they good 
or bad, has nothing to do with 
the question of extortion by 
manufacturers. It should stand 
upon its own basis ; and while 
there are, doubtless, individual 
cases of injustice, as a general 
rule, there can be found but 
little cause for complaint. 

The competition in the sale 
of important machines is too 
sharp to admit of any great 
danger of extortion ; and this 



64 



competition is increasing every 
year. 

Suppose, on a reaper now 
sold at ^150, an ingenious in- 
ventor makes an improvement 
which largely reduces the 
aTnount of power required to 
move it. 

The manufacturer charges 
1^25 additional, or 1^175 for this 
improved machine, and the sav- 
ing in labor proves to be ^100. 

Is anybody wronged.? Has 
not, on the contrary, a great 
benefit been conferred upon the 
farming-interest. 

The foregoing may be 
summed up in the following 
propositions : — 

1. That neither the patentee, 
nor the owner of the Patent, is 
able to continue an unjust mo- 
nopoly of a manufacture, for 
the reason that ingenuity soon- 
er or later produces other in- 
ventions which create compe- 
tition. 

2. That manufacturers, even 
oif patented articles, do not, 
taking one year with another, 
realize more than a reasonable 
return for the labor performed, 
and risk incurred. That it is 



not for their interest to incite 
competition by demanding 
prices that are onerous, and 
unjust to the public. 

3. That only a small pro- 
portion of patentees, or manu- 
facturers of patented articles, 
achieve success, and are there- 
fore observed. That the great 
mass who realize disappoint- 
ment and disaster are wholly 
lost sight of. 

4. That an inventor who 
produces a valuable improve- 
ment, or a manufacturer who 
makes such an improvement 
available to the public in a form 
that is effective and desirable, 
is a public benefactor, and de- 
serves recompense just in pro- 
portion to the merits of his 
production ; and that it should 
not be measured by the ordi- 
nary rule applied to manufactur- 
ing profits. 

5. That the unrestricted lib- 
erty for the pi#lic to manu- 
facture machines or products 
embodying new inventions, 
would have the effect to flood 
the country with crude, and un- 
perfected work, which would 
inflict far more loss and injury, 



65 



than all the royalties that have 
been paid on Patents since the 
first was issued, eighty-five years 
ago. 

6. That years of labor, and 
the expenditure of fortunes, 
are frequently required to bring 
an invention, even after it has 
been introduced to the public, 
to a condition which is avail- 
able. 

7. That, when such a result 
has been reached, the general 
public, who have had nothing at 
risk, would doubtless be very 
glad to participate in the bene- 
fits without cost, labor, or anxi- 
ety. 

8. That establishing by law 
a royalty of ten per cent, or 
any other sum, upon the mar- 
ket value of patented articles, 
would be, — 

a. An unconstitutional tres- 
pass upon private rights, 
and, — 

h. In most cases an exorbi- 
tant charge, far beyond what is 
now made. 

^. It would promote litiga- 
tion. 

d. Such a mode of assess- 
ment, without reference to the 

5 



value either of the Patent, or 
of the machine, or of the dif- 
ferent conditions of the market, 
would be wholly impracticable. 

9. That it is exceptional, 
when the owner of a Patent 
does not allow others to put the 
same in practice upon the pay- 
ment of a reasonable royalty. 

And, if this permission is 
not freely given, the use of the 
invention is too often taken 
without consent, and to the 
detriment of the inventor ; 
since, in such a contest, capital 
is generally triumphant. 

10. That the census returns, 
so far as they relate to our 
manufacturing industry, are, in 
the words of the superintend- 
ent, " entirely untrustworthy 
and delusive^' for the rea- 
sons : — 

a. That collecting these sta- 
tistics is " merely incidental to 
the enumeration of population ; 
that the service is poorly paid, 
and a tedious and unwelcome 
duty, to be discharged in the 
cheapest and easiest manner." 

b. That few manufacturers 
can state the amount of capital 
employed, or the amount paid 



66 



for wages and material, or the 
value of their products ; and, 
even if they could do so, 
they would in many cases de- 
cline, or make a fictitious re- 
port 

11. That the census returns 
show nearly double the per- 
centage of profit upon the 
capital invested in the manufac- 
ture of prominent unpatented 
articles, than on those which 
are protected by Patents. 

12. That the assumption by 



Mr. Sayler, that the difference 
between the amount paid for 
wages and material, and the 
amount realized from the prod- 
uct, is all nei profit, clearly 
shows that he has had no man- 
ufacturing or commercial expe- 
rience. 

13. That a statement care- 
fully and systematically made 
up from the books of an exten- 
sive stove manufacturer exhib- 
its the following result for a 
ton of stoves : — 



Cost $120,00 

Wages 43-76 31^5 percent. 

Material 45.14 z^^^ " 

Sundries 31.10 22^2^ " 

Profit 20.00 id^^^ " 

$140.00 100 " 



And that this is believed to be 
a fair representation of other 
branches, though differing in 
proportions, and above the aver- 
age profit. 

14. That reports from the 
few branches of manufactures 
that I have been able to obtain 
in the time at my command, show 
an average profit of nine to thir- 
teen per cent, instead of thirty- 



eight per cent, as shown by the 
census, upon the same branches. 
15. That the profit on the 
manufacture and sale of Pat- 
ent Medicines is stated at 
a hundred and eighteen per 
cent, while the average profit 
upon five unpatented articles 
of similar character is shown 
to be ninety-eight and seven- 
tenths per cent. 



67 



Same 

Profit on rubber goods 59 per cent. 

Profit on five unpatented classes in contrast 

Profit on house organs 24^^^ " 

Profit on five unpatented classes in contrast 

Profit on sewing-machines 67 " 

Profit on five unpatented classes in contrast 
Profit on agricultural implements .... 52 
Profit on five unpatented classes in contrast 
Average profit on the five patented articles . 63^^^ 
Average profit on the twenty-five unpatented 

articles 99j^q- 



Z\^^ per cent 



16. That the net profits on 
five patented classes are more 
than three times as great as on 
the same amount of capital 
invested in the manufacture of 
pig iron, or cotton goods. 

That the net profit on five 
unpatented classes is nearly 
five times as great as on the 
same amount of capital in- 
vested in pig iron, and more 
than five times the same 
amount invested in cotton 
goods. 

17, That the net profit on 
these five patented classes is 
one twenty-sixth of the entire 
amount shown upon all manu- 
factures. 

That the net profit on these 
five unpatented classes is one- 
ninth of this entire amount. 



I have thus endeavored to 
show, by a dispassionate array 
of facts and figures, and also 
by the views of men whose 
probity and experience render 
their opinions of weight, not 
only the unreasonable charac- 
ter of the arguments advanced 
by the gentleman from Indi- 
ana, but the falsity of the 
premises upon which they are 
based. 

The disastrous effect of ma- 
terially changing our Patent 
System must be evident. Even 
if there were large profits on 
patented articles of high merit, 
as Mr. Sayler alleges, but which, 
I respectfully submit, has been 
disproved, the inventor and the 
manufacturer, who take large 
risks, deserve it all : they give 



68 



to the public far more than they 
ask in return. 

The present Patent System, 
as before stated, may have its 
defects ; but the aim of all wise 
legislation should be to im- 
prove, and not destroy. 

The friends of the system 
desire these improvements, and 
they will gladly co-operate in 



all proper efforts to secure 
their adoption. 

Our system is already the 
recognized model for the world ; 
and it should be the aim of 
legislators to still further ele- 
vate its ■ standard, and thus 
maintain our position in the 
foremost rank, in the great 
march of improvement. 



OUR COUNTRY'S DEBT TO 

PATENTS. 



HENRY HOWSON, 

OF PHILADELPHIA. 



INCLUDING 



WHAT PATENTS HAVE DONE FOR US. 

RECKLESS MAKING AND UNMAKING OF PATENT LAWS. 

WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO? , 

VALUELESS PATENTS. 

ABOUT INVENTORS. 

ATTACKS ON THE PATENT OFFICE. 

THE CRY AGAINST PATENTS AND INVENTORS. 



OUR COUNTRY'S DEBT TO PATENTS. 



The alliance of Patents with 
the progress of the useful arts 
is so intimate, that any attempt 
to molest or degrade the former 
by unwise legislation must dis- 
astrously affect the latter. 

We constantly hear the word 
" Patents " from the mouths of 
the manufacturer and mechanic, 
the wholesale merchant and 
retail dealer, and the farmer, 
and always in connection with 
something that is novel, or of 
superior quality, or something 
that can be obtained at a 
cheaper rate than usual. 

Now and then we hear the 
word uttered in contemptuous 
tones, by disappointed speculat- 
ors, jealous manufacturers, men 
who would invent, without 
being inventors, or by those 
who would attempt to cure the 



minor evils always accompany- 
ing even the most salutary and 
beneficent systems of public 
policy, not by attacking these 
evils in detail, but by the dis- 
organization of the whole sys- 
tem. 

Common as the word is, there 
are few who are aware how in- 
intimately related Patents are 
to our present well-being and 
comfort, how much we owe to 
Patents in the past, how much 
we have to hope from them in 
the future, and how intimately 
they are interwoven with our 
whole social system. 

There are those, however, 
who have spent many years in 
acquiring a familiarity with 
various branches of the indus- 
trial arts, and have, through 
choice or necessity, obtained an 



72 



extended experience in Patent 
matters. 

As one of these, I propose to 
show those who talk fiippantl}^, 
and write superciHously, about 
Patents, and especially those 
legislators, who, without a thor- 
ough insight into the subject, 
would subject the Patent Laws 
to revolutionary tinkering, that 
Patents pervade, and are insep- 
arable from, all the artificial 
surroundings which add to our 
well-being, comfort, and enjoy- 
ment ; and I propose to review 
the subject generally in as con- 
densed a form as possible under 
the following heads : What 
Patents have done for Us ; 
Reckless Making and Un- 
making OF Patent Laws ; 
Where the Money goes ; 
Valueless Patents ; About 
Inventors ; Attacks on the 
Patent Office ; The Cry 
against Patents. 



what 



PATENTS HAVE 
for US. 



DONE 



I propose to show how grate- 
ful we ought to be for our 
Patent System, not by any 
elaborate investigation of differ- 



ent branches of industry, not by 
any lengthy historical and sta- 
tistical researches, but by con- 
fining my remarks to familiar 
objects within my reach in the 
room which I now occupy, — a 
library furnished with the ordi- 
nary accessories which a pro- 
fessional man requires. 

There is a tapestry carpet on 
the floor, — a carpet with a 
tasty pattern woven in brilliant 
colors. Twenty-five years ago, 
a skilled workman could weave 
by hand two yards per day of a 
carpet like this, but not equal 
in quality ; and now a single 
power loom will weave twenty 
yards per day. " The carpets, 
moreover," to quote the words 
of a well-known authority, " are 
more exact in their figures, so 
that they are perfectly matched, 
and their surface is smooth and 
regular. They surpass, indeed, 
in their quality, the best carpets 
of their kind manufactured in 
any other part of the world." 

To-day these superior carpets 
can be purchased at half the 
cost per yard charged for the 
inferior hand-made carpets of 
thirty years ago ; that is, if we 



73 



take into account the difference 
in value of money then and 
now. 

To what shall we attribute 
this rapid progress in the man- 
ufacture of carpets ? To Eras- 
tus B. Bigelow, you will say. 
I shall not be detracting from 
the merits of this great Ameri- 
can inventor in saying, as I 
believe he himself would say, 
that the rapid progress of this 
manufacture is due quite as 
much to our Patent System as 
to Bigelow's ingenuity. 

This accomplished patentee 
spent years of studious applica- 
tion in the production of his 
loom. Where was the incen- 
tive to this laborious mental 
task ? The reward which our 
Patent System held out to him. 
Where was the incentive for 
capitalists to invest money in 
the manufacture of these car- 
pets on a large scale ? The 
security which Patents afforded 
for the investment. Mr. Bige- 
low, although the most promi- 
nent inventor in this branch of 
industry, was not the sole con- 
tributor to its progress. Cromp- 
ton, and hosts of other patentees, 



have aided in bringing this 
manufacture to its present per- 
fection, or rather to its present 
state of excellence ; for we can- 
not foresee the end which per- 
fection implies. We must look 
for further improvements, based 
on future patented inventions, 
providing progress is not ob- 
structed by legislation tending 
to destroy the motive to invent. 
It is safe to say that better 
carpets may be seen to-day in 
the cottages of hard-working 
artisans than were found forty 
years ago in the houses of the 
wealthiest citizens ; and this is 
due to the ingenuity called out 
by the incentives which Patents 
have presented, and continue to 
present. It is not the wealthy 
alone who are gainers by our 
Patent System, it is the masses 
who derive the greatest com- 
forts from that source. 

Before I leave the carpet, let- 
me say that its greater durabil- 
ity is insured by a cheap pat- 
ented lining, for different styles 
of which a dozen or two of 
Patents have been granted, and 
that the carpet is secured by 
Patent fastenings, on the pro- 



74 



duction of which much inge- 
nuity has been expended ; for 
Patents for these little devices 
can be counted by the score. 



Let us turn to the _paper on 
the wall, — a paper of neat de- 
sign, with ribbed and glazed 
surface studded with gilt sprigs. 
This is a home manufacture ; 
for wall paper to the value of 
over a ;^ 1,000,000 per year is 
produced in this city alone. 
The Patents for the manufac- 
ture of paper, and economizing 
its production, are innumerable. 
Patent after Patent has been 
granted for drying, glazing, 
printing, and other operations 
connected with wall paper ; and 
the result of all this has been 
the permanent establishment 
of six large manufactories in 
this city. It would be impossi- 
ble, in preparing a history of 
paper and paper manufacture, 
to separate it from the Patents 
which are contemporaneous 
with the improvements in this 
branch of industry. 



Then look at the stove, — an 
elegant, artistic affair, capable 



of heating my large room, at 
an expense of a bucketful of 
coals per day. Compare this 
stove with the open fireplaces 
in which our fathers burnt 
cords of wood, or tons of coal, 
without obtaining a tithe of 
the heat which that ornamen- 
tal structure generates. Com- 
pare it with the old anthracite 
stove of but thirty-five years 
ago. I saw one of these obso- 
lete heat generators the other 
day, a hideous structure, with 
metal enough in its composi- 
tion to make a cannon of small 
caliber, — metal enough to 
make four modern stoves of 
equal capacity. 

There are, perhaps, more 
Patents for stoves than for any 
other class of inventions. A 
wonderful amount of ingenuity 
has been expended on these 
household necessities ; and the 
result has been the establish- 
ment, all over the land, of man- 
ufactories, the products of which 
are a source of admiration to 
every foreigner who visits us. 



Let me point to a matter of 
less importance. There is a 



75 



picture on the wall, a steel 
engraving, — an art of which 
one of the greatest of Amer- 
ican inventors and patentees, 
Jacob Perkins, was the father. 
In hanging the picture to the 
wall, I objected to the driving of 
nails, even if they were brass- 
headed, through the handsome- 
wall-paper; and I objected to 
the ridiculous and disfiguring 
inclined cords, and to the 
clumsy knot which is usually 
employed to conceal the nail, 
but is always an eyesore, a 
useless excrescence. I looked 
for a remedy for all this in my 
list of Patents, and soon found 
it. I discovered a Patent 
mmilding which would serve 
the twofold purpose of a finish 
for the wall-paper at its junc- 
tion with the ceiling, and of a 
ledge, to which could be 
adapted a gilt hook; and I 
found patent plated wire cord, 
almost invisible, with which to 
suspend the picture from the 
hook. By these appliances, I 
am enabled to slide my picture 
laterally to any position de- 
sired, and I dispense with wall- 
mutilating nails, and clumsy 



cords. All this, it may be 
said, is a small matter ; but it is 
just such small matters as 
these which go to show how 
intimately Patents are con- 
nected even with what may 
appear to be trifling comforts, 
conveniences, and appearances. 
But I have not done with the 
picture yet. It has a gill- 
frame, consisting of a wooden 
moulding, to whichjthe_compo- 
sition for receiving the gold is 
applied by a well-known pro- 
cess, forming the subject of an 
expired Patent, and which has 
reduced the cost of ordinary 
gilt frames to such an extent, 
thaf Tfiey are now to be found 
in the dwellings of the com- 
paratively poor : whereas, twen- 
ty years ago, hand-made gilt 
frames were within the reach 
of the well-to-do only. Then 
there is the glass in front of 
the picture. It is only within 
a comparatively few years, that 
sheets of glass sufficiently 
large and clear for a picture- 
frame of moderate size have 
been produced in this country ; 
and this production may be in 
a great measure attributed to 



76 



patented glass furnaces, and 
hosts of patented appliances 
connected with glass manu- 
factured 



But let us turn to objects of 
a more utilitarian character. 

Immediately in front of me 
is an ordinary panelled and 
moulded door for a closet. A 
door like this, if made by 
hand, would cost just double 
the money for which a door of 
the same size and character, 
but of more accurate work- 
manship, can now be purchased 
at a large sash and door manu- 
factory. This economy is at- 
tributable, in a great measure, 
and in the first instance, to 
Woodworth's Patent Wood- 
planing Machine, which was 
succeeded by many valuable im- 
provements in the same class 
of machinery ; but there are 
many other patented machines 
which have contributed to this 
economy of manufacture, — 
sawing-machines, tonguing and 
grooving machines, moulding 
machines, &c., for which Patent 
after Patent has been and 
continues to be granted. Pat- 



ents for wood-working ma- 
chinery may, in fact, be 
counted by the thousand. 

There are two very impor- 
tant things, without which the 
door could not be completed ; 
and these are glue and sand- 
paper. It may surprise many 
to know that Philadelphia can 
boast of the most extensive 
glue and sand-paper factory in 
the world. It is a factory in 
which one thousand hands are 
employed. The foundation of 
this gigantic establishment 
was based on a series of valua- 
ble Patents, on which the pro- 
prietors, by good judgment and 
enterprise, have built a super- 
structure of which this city 
may well be proud. 

But let us look at the result 
of Patents in this case, as far 
as the public is concerned ; for 
their value cannot be justly 
measured by the wealth which 
they bring to the patentees 
alone. It is but a compara- 
tively few years since all the 
glue and sand-paper used in 
this country were imported : 
now they are made, owing to 
patented facilities, so economi- 



77 



cally, that much of the product 
of the factory in question is ex- 
ported, while the home market 
is suppUed at a cost less than 
half that which the imported 
materials cost a few years ago. 

Sundry_nail§ are used in the 
construction of the door. 
Compare the old costly hand- 
forged nails with the cut nails 
of the present day, which cost 
but little more than the metal 
plates from which they are 
made. As immense sums of 
money have been expended in 
perfecting nail-machines in 
this country, and hundreds of 
Patents have been granted for 
improvements, we must con- 
clude that the incentive to the 
outlay and expenditure of in- 
genuity is to be found in the pro- 
tection which Patents afford; 
and hence we may justly rea- 
son, that these cheap nails of 
to-day are due to our Patent 
System. 

Then, again, the door is fur- 
nished with a lock such as is 
made in the large manufacto- 
ries in New England and 
Pittsburg, — a lock that can 
be purchased at any hardware 



store at less than one-third the 
price of one of the old hand- 
made locks of equal quality. 
The art of lock-making has 
made rapid advances in this 
country ; superiority and econ- 
omy of construction being the 
characteristics of our home- 
made locks. When we take 
into account the many hun- 
dreds of Patents which have 
been granted for locks, it will 
be evident that the progress 
of the manufacture is largely 
due to our Patent System. 

The same remarks will apply 
to the hinges of the door, 
which are manufactured at 
rates which would astonish car- 
penters of thirty years ago, and 
the excellence and economy of 
which are due to patented 
machinery. 

The celebrated patented 
machine which turns out com- 
plete hinges from crude brass 
plates and wire, automatically, 
is a marvel of ingenuity, and 
has resulted in supplying the 
market with hinges of superior 
quality at wonderfully low 
rates. 

Lastly, we have the screws 



78 



by which the hinges are se- 
cured. The patented machines 
for producing these screws are 
numerous, and their produc- 
tion is rapid and economical. 
Take the Patent gimlet-pointed 
screw : what facihties it affords 
for the carpenter's operations ! 
What tedious manipulation it 
dispenses with ! 

The houses of our artisans 
and laborers, the comfortable 
homes of our struggling West- 
ern farmers, are a source of 
admiration and astonishment 
to inquiring foreigners who 
visit our country. The cheap 
wood-work, and cheap building 
hardware, which enter into the 
composition of these dwellings, 
owe their existence to the 
thousands of Patents which 
have been granted for the 
articles themselves, and for the 
machines for the cheap pro- 
duction of the articles. 



Let us examine the desk on 
which I am writing. Both 
pen and penholder are pat- 
ented ; and very superior 
articles they are. It would be 
difficult to enumerate the 



many patented processes to 
which the cheap and excellent 
paper on which I am writing 
owes its existence. The bottle 
of ink from which my ink- 
stand is supplied is marked 
patented, and so is the ink- 
stand itself. Many Patents 
have been granted for ink 
compositions, and hosts of Pat- 
ents for inkstands, — some of 
them absurd and useless 
enough, it is true ; but the fail- 
ure of one patentee only in- 
stigates more successful in- 
genuity in another, until an 
article of excellent quality is 
produced, as in the present 
instance ; for I would not ex- 
change the inkstand on my 
desk for the most costly stand 
in the market. 

Then I have patented pen- 
cils, with rubber attached, very 
useful instruments ; a patent- 
ed mucilage-reservoir, a cleanly 
and economical device, to be 
found in every stationer's store. 
There is a patented paper- 
weight, a very attractive, artis- 
tic affair ; a patented sponge- 
cup on which to wipe my pen ; 
letter-scales, a sensitive and ac- 



79 



curate instrument for weighing 
up to ten ounces, — an instru- 
ment, the low price of which 
would startle the scale-makers 
of fifteen or twenty years ago. 

The very spectacles which 
enable me to write are patent- 
ed, and are of home manufac- 
ture. A few words here about 
home-made spectacles will go 
to show the bearing of Patents 
on home industries. 

Within the last two or three 
years, all our spectacles were 
imported ; but Patents were re- 
cently granted in this country 
for a very ingenious method 
of graduating the tints of spec- 
tacle lenses. These Patents had, 
in the first instance, to be car- 
ried into effect in Europe ; for 
there was in this country no 
glass of proper quality, no 
proper machinery for grinding 
lenses. But the spectacles 
were a success, were approved 
of by opticians and by all who 
used them; and the patentee 
soon found men to invest capi- 
tal in the manufacture ; so that 
to-day, there is in Reading a 
spectacle factory in full tide of 
success ; the making of the 



glass for the lenses, the grind- 
ing of these lenses, the manu- 
facture of the frames, all being 
accomplished on the spot. 

This is only one of the many 
instances within the writer's 
knowledge, of new industries 
introduced into this country on 
the strength of Patents. Not 
only are all our modern manu- 
factures, with rare exceptions, 
based on Patents ; but the 
liberality and justice of our 
Patent System have attracted 
to our shores thousands of in- 
genious and skilled artisans of 
foreign countries. 

I could point out in this 
great manufacturing city fac- 
tory after factory which owes 
its existence to Patents ; I 
could point to thousands of 
artisans for whose skill Patents 
have created a demand, and 
whose future prosperity de- 
pends upon the permanency of 
our Patent System. Let Mr. 
Sayler, and others who would 
disturb Patent property by un- 
wise legislation, remember this. 



There is on my table a pack- 
age of beautifully made envel- 



8o 



opes, manufactured at a cost 
but a fraction over that for 
which the excellent paper of 
which they are made can be 
purchased. 

Let our supply of envelopes 
be restricted to such as are 
made by hand, and the public 
complaint would be loud and 
wide-spread. The grant of Pat- 
ent after Patent for envelope 
machines and appliances has 
resulted in the production of 
these indispensable articles at 
a wonderfully low figure. 

Then there are the pins, eye- 
lets, and other indispensable 
accessories of a writing-desk ; 
and there is the device for 
wetting postage-stamps, — an 
instrument, which, I am willing 
to admit, I have discarded for 
the well-known primitive plan. 
This may be looked upon as 
an over-invention ; but the de- 
vice displays the exhibition of 
considerable ingenuity, which 
will, doubtless, find a more 
profitable and serviceable out- 
let in future. 

As for the pins» let us re- 
member that a paper of these 
cost, in 1 8 1 2, one dollar ; and 



that the pins were much infe- 
rior in quality to those which 
can now be purchased for six 
cents a paper ; that the cost of 
pins since 1835 has been re- 
duced one-half, while the qual- 
ity has been improved in an 
equal ratio ; and that from 
seven to ten tons per week are 
now made in this country. 
The Patented machines for 
manufacturing pins, and stick- 
ing them into papers, are won- 
ders of modern ingenuity, the 
result of a succession of inven- 
tions and of numerous Tatents, 
the acquisition of which insti- 
gated the inventors, and cre- 
ated that spirit of industrial 
rivalry which always tends to 
the advantage of the public. 

As for the eyelets and eye- 
let-machines, for which there 
are so many Patents, their util- 
ity is not confined to the secur- 
ing of papers. Some estimate 
of the widespread advantages 
of these little metal fastenings 
can be derived by inquiring 
what our wives and daughters 
could do without them in these 
days. Machines for making 
eyelets, and for eyeleting fab- 



8i 



rics, are numerous, and are 
the result of the expenditure 
of much ingenuity, and of the 
reward which Patents held out 
to those who succeeded best in 
this line of industry. 

Let us look at the furniture 
in the room. There is a 
Patent sofa, covered with a 
Patent fabric. There are num- 
bers of chairs of elegant de- 
sign, but comparatively cheap, 
owing to the Patented machin- 
ery which has been brought 
to bear on their manufacture. 
The very staffing for the cush- 
ions is prepared by a patented 
process. If we examine that 
comfortable reclijiing-chair, the 
subject of half a dozen Pat- 
ents, and compare it with the 
straight-backed abortions on 
which our grandfathers were 
content to prop themselves up, 
we shall conclude that Patents 
have had a good deal to do 
with the modern comfort, 
which is one of the best indi- 
cations of the advancement of 
civilization. 

Then there are the Patent 
casters on the furniture. Hun- 
dreds of Patents have been 



obtained for these indispensa- 
ble adjuncts ; and, judging from 
the accidents which have oc- 
curred to many of my own 
casters, I should say there is 
plenty of room for improve- 
ment, and for the mental labor 
of those ingenious men who 
are looking about for subjects 
on which to expend their 
inventive talents. 

There is my pipe. I may 
be pardoned for alluding to it, 
when I say that it is to me 
quite as much an article of 
necessity as a luxury. It has 
a meerschaum bowl with a 
Patent stem ; and let me say, 
that this Patent stem permits 
me to smoke common tobacco 
with more enjoyment than the 
most costly Havana cigar. 

The very cjoths which cover 
my tables have been beautifully 
and cheaply embroidered at the 
edge by automatic machinery. 
Then there is a Patent adjust- 
able table for drawing, or for 
holding large books at a proper 
inclination. 

There are the window-blinds 
with patented spring rollers, 
enabling me to dispense with 



82 



the well-known nuisances, 
cords and pulleys, which inva- 
riably get out of order at the 
most inopportune junctures. 

There are two fine framed 
• photographs, made in accord- 
ance with patented processes, 
and two photo-lithographs, the 
excellence of which is due to 
several patented inventions. 
The rapid growth of photog- 
raphy and photo-lithography 
■cannot be contemplated by any 
thinking man, without wonder 
and admiration, and without 
thanking the Almighty that he 
has been permitted to live in 
ain age when such wondrous 
prdgress has been made in the 
fine arts, and such facilities have 
been brought to light for the 
dissemination of knowledge, 
as photography and photo-li- 
thography afford. Compare 
the wretched daubs which ap- 
peared on the walls of our 
well-to-do citizens of twenty 
years ago with the pictures to 
be found to-day in the cottages 
of the poor. Compare the 
chimney ornaments of our chil- 
hood, the green dogs and crim- 
son cats of pottery-ware, the 



plaster casts of impossible men 
and women, with the chaste 
and truthful ornaments which 
can now be procured at re- 
markably low prices. Look at 
our children's toys, and com- 
pare them witlTthe contents of 
the miniature representations 
of Noah's ark of but a few 
years past, — contents which 
would appear to have been 
designed with a view of dis- 
torting the imagination of the 
rising generation, by making 
all the animals of one size. 

The rapid advancement of 
the fine arts within a compara- 
tively few years must be attrib- 
uted to the popular taste for 
the true and beautiful, which 
photography has created. 
While the earliest efforts in 
this direction may be charged 
to philosophers and experimen- 
talists, the advancement of 
the art is due to the hundreds 
of Patents for valuable im- 
provements, and to the spirit 
of emulation which Patents 
stimulated. 

There are the chandeliers 
and gas-fixtures. I am not 
going to make comparisons be- 



83 



the tallow candles of our fore- 
fathers. I would simply point 
out the excellency of the work- 
manship of those fixtures, — a 
workmanship due to patented 
machinery, processes, and appli- 
ances ; and I would point to 
the Patent tips, which insure a 
flame exactly suited to my pur- 
poses ; and to the patented mica 
reflecting-shades, to be deprived 
of which I should look upon as 
one of the greatest of hard- 
ships. 

Then let us contemplate the 
books in my cases, an amount 
of literature furnished at a cost 
which would have astonished 
our forefathers ; all due to pat- 
ented improvements in paper 
manufacture, patented printing 
processes and machinery, im- 
provements in book-binding, 
patented folding-machines, and 
hosts of inventions, to enumer- 
ate which would require page 
after page of printed matter. 

The foregoing remarks have 
been restricted to objects in one 
room ; and let me say that I 
have by no means exhausted 
the articles with which Patents 



are intimately connected in 
that room. There are subjects 
enough left to enable me to 
continue my observations to a 
very tedious length. 

If I go to a bedroom, new 
objects present themselves ; 
different patented articles in 
the parlor, a new set of appli- 
ances in the dining-room, and 
totally different instruments in 
the kitchen, all bearing the 
stamp " Patent," or produced 
by patented machines or pro- 
cesses. 

y\MQ cannot make a movement 
without touching a patented 
article. Asleep or awake, we 
are surrounded by Patents! 
They attach themselves to all 
our duties, studies, and recrea- 
tions ; they accompany us iil 
our travels on foot, in vehicles, 
by railroad, or by steamboat ; 
they cling to us in the shape, 
of clothing and jewelry ; they 
enter into remedies for our dis-, 
eases ; and we have the cold 
comfort of knowing that they 
accompany us to the grave in, 
the shape of patented coffins.. 
We cannot get clear of 
them, j 



84 



If we desire to know the 
history of the rise and progress 
of any art or manufacture, the 
true history can only be deter- 
mined by that of the Patents 
connected with it. 

As I said in the outset, Pat- 
ents are so alHed to the prog- 
ress of the useful arts, are so 
intimately interwoven with our 
duties, welfare, comforts, and 
enjoyments, with our whole so- 
cial system, that any attempt 
to tamper with them by legisla- 
tion which will tend to lessen 
their value must be disastrous 
in its consequences/) 
VI have said enough to show 
how far we are indebted in the 
past to Patents for our manu- 
facturing supremacy, for our 
present social advantages, for 
the advanced state of the arts, 
for comforts our grandfathers 
would have looked upon as im- 
possibilities.^ What have we to 
expect froni the same source in 
future ? 

No less than 12,864 Patents 
were granted by our govern- 
ment in the year 1873; very 
many, the majority perhaps, 
for articles, machines, or pro- 



cesses possessing but few, if 
any, advantages ; others exhib- 
iting marked improvements in 
the arts to which they relate ; 
and others, of a startling char- 
acter, presenting unlooked-for 
benefits. But who can calcu- 
late the aggregate benefit to the 
public from this mass of Pat- 
ents granted during one year ? 
No one can measure it ; for no 
one can penetrate so far into 
the future as to determine what 
important part many of these 
patented inventions may play 
in the future manufacturing 
history and progress of our 
country. We know by the 
past, that, so long as our Patent 
System retains its integrity, the 
incentive to invent must con- 
tinue : if that integrity is re- 
tained in future, there must be 
a constant and restless spirit 
of rivalry to excel in the indus- 
trial arts, repeated exhibitions 
of originality, a thirst for inno- 
vation, stimulated by the tem- 
porary profit and manufacturing 
advantages derived from the 
possession of Patents for the 
limited term allowed by the 
law. 



■85 



RECKLESS MAKING AND UN- 
MAKING OF PATENT LAWS. 

Periodical attacks are made 
in Congress against Patents 
and the Patent System ; and 
now we have a legislator who 
publicly overestimates the value 
of Patents and Patent property, 
and declares that an average of 
over fifty per cent is derived 
from patented manufactures, 
whereas fifteen per cent is the 
highest average. This legislator 
will not look into the past, and 
compare the profits derived 
from inventions with the bene- 
fits which have accrued to the 
public at large from the same 
source. 

If it were possible to calcu- 
late the sums over and above 
ordinary manufacturers' profits, 
which the public has paid for 
patented articles during the 
last twenty years, and then to 
compare the comforts, advan- 
tages, and improved social con- 
dition resulting from these pat- 
ented improvements, we should 
conclude that the public has 
had the best of the bargain, 
and that the reward of the in- 



ventors is an inconsiderable 
trifle. 

Is this exchange between 
inventors and the public, an 
exchange so profitable to the 
latter, to be arrested by reck- 
less legislation ? 

Judging from the bills now 
before Congress, there would 
appear to be a formidable at- 
tempt on the part of some 
obstructionists to wound our 
manufacturing supremacy at its 
most vital point. They would 
attack our well-tried Patent 
System, on which that suprem- 
acy is based, and on which our 
children must rely for the con- 
tinuance of that progress, the 
stoppage of which means retro- 
gression. 

Mr. Sayler's House Bill, No. 
1392, proposes to allow any one 
to manufacture, use, or sell any 
patented machine or other arti^ 
cle, by paying to the patentee 
a royalty of ten per cent on 
the market value of such ma- 
chine or article ; the royalty 
never to be less than twenty- 
five cents. 

In other words, Mr. Sayler 
would give to an inventor a Pat- 



.86 



ent burdened with restrictions 
which takes away its value, — 
a species of property against 
which human nature revolts. 

Make a child a present accom- 
panied with arbitrary restric- 
tions as to its use and as to the 
mode in which he shall share it 
with others. He may take the 
first present ; but, if he is the 
child we like to see, — a child 
with a spirit of independence, — 
the weight of the restrictions 
will induce him to refuse a sec- 
ond present of like character. 

So it is with an inventor. 
Give him his Patent as proper- 
ty which he can retain or dis- 
pose of as best he likes, a 
property the reward of his in- 
genuity, and he will prosecute 
his invention, make it available 
to the public, invite capital to 
carry it out (when capital is 
needed), and will pursue the 
course which has heretofore 
been pursued by inventors, with 
the result the advantages of 
which are displayed by all our 
surroundings. 

But weigh down a Patent 
with Mr. Sayler's arbitrary re- 
strictions, and what would be 



the consequences ? In the first 
place, how many inventors 
would accept Patents on the 
terms proposed .-' Very few 
wise ones ; and it is wise invent- 
ors on whom we rely for future 
advancement of the arts equal 
to that which has prevailed in 
the past. 

And if the inventor takes 
this Patent, this property, which 
is no property at all, where will 
he find the capitalists to aid 
him ? 

This measure of Mr. Sayler's 
would amount to a total aboli- 
tion of Patents, to the uproot- 
ing of our Patent System, and 
to the disorganization of the 
entire manufacturing interests 
of the country. 

Let us look into Mr. Sayler's 
singular mode of rewarding in- 
ventors. He would not destroy 
Patents ; but he would reward 
patentees in a new way, — a 
way of his own. There is a 
patented machine for cutting 
saw-teeth, built at a cost of 
^300. It works so rapidly and 
effectually, that about ten ma- 
chines will supply the demand 
of all the manufacturers of the 



S7 



country. According to Mr, 
Sayler's mode of remuneration, 
all the reward the inventor 
could receive would be ^300. 
On the other hand, there is the 
patentee of a combined tooth- 
pick and pen-holder, who sells 
the articles at the corner of the 
street, for ten cents each. If 
I feel anxious to sell the same 
kind of article, I must pay the 
patentee twenty-five cents for 
every ten cents I receive. Re- 
muneration admirable for its 
equality and foresight. 

Then, again, Mr. Sayler's bill 
provides for the payment for 
the use of a machine in the 
construction of which one or 
several Patents are combined, 
by making the amount to be 
paid subject to the decisions 
of the courts. What an erup- 
tion of litigation this measure 
implies ! There is ample pro- 
vision here for the benefit of 
lawyers, but very little comfort, 
either for the patentee, or those 
who desire to purchase. 

The House Bill, No. 1757, 
of Mr. Kasson, would empower 
the Commissioner of Patents 
to license any person to use a 



patented machine on payment 

of a royalty of per cent 

upon the actual cost of manu- 
facture. 

This is, if any thing, worse 
than Mr. Sayler's bill ; for it 
saddles the Patent Office with 
most laborious duties. 

The same bill, moreover, pro- 
hibits the extension of a Patent 
under any circumstances, — a 
measure the advisabihty of 
which may well be questioned 
in view of the fact, of which 
the history of inventions af- 
fords ample proof, that many 
inventors derive no benefit 
from their exertions until to- 
wards the expiry of their Pat- 
ents. 

Another member of Con- 
gress, Mr. Killinger, takes an 
entirely different view of the 
matter ; for his bill (872) pro- 
vides for the extension of any 
Patent on payment by the pat- 
entee of a fee of ^100, without 
any inquiry as to the validity of 
the Patent, — a measure which 
would appear to be unjust to 
the public. 

But it is to Mr. Sayler's bill 
especially that I wish to direct 



88 



attention. (The author most 
certainly had in his mind some 
evil to be remedied by his prop- 
osition. Judging from his 
speech, this evil consisted sim- 
ply of the fraudulent acts of a 
set of Western Patent peddlers, 
whose practice it is to levy on 
farmers and others, either by 
inducing them to purchase 
some worthless patented trap, 
or by mulcting them for sup- 
posed infringements on Patents 
which they own, or are hired to 
peddle. Under threats of pros- 
ecution before the United 
States Courts, these fellows 
collect small sums from farm- 
ers, who are not able to dis- 
tinguish Patents with broad 
claims, from those with narrow 
claims, or are unwilling to 
make inquiries by which their 
rights can be determined./ 
\It is very true that a set of 
Patent-hawking impostors in- 
fest not only the Western, but 
the Eastern and Southern 
States, and prey upon the 
unwary and ignorant of all sec- 
tions. They are the parasites 
of our Patent System, and cast 
the same taint on it that un- 



scrupulous hypocrites do on 
our churches} but are we to 
get rid of these black sheep by 
uprooting our churches } The 
proper plan is to legislate 
against the parasites who at- 
tach themselves to our best 
institutions, not to demolish 
the institutions in order to in- 
sure the destruction of the 
parasites. But do these Patent 
hawkers cause such mischief 
as to call for legislative inter- 
ference ? Their fraudulent 
proceedings can only be availa- 
ble with the ignorant and care- 
less. A member of Congress 
very properly suggested to Mr. 
Sayler that it would be best to 
legislate brains into the victims 
of these men. 

We cannot legislate impos- 
tors from the face of the earth. 
In the wisest law of man's 
designing, in the most salutary 
and carefully worded enact- 
ment, your cunning rascal will 
find an opening for the prac- 
tice of his rascality, or he will 
invent a new knavery to meet 
the difficulties which the law 
presents. 

Are there any more knaves 



89 



among inventors and those in- 
terested or dealing in Patents, 
than in other classes of the 
community ? 

I think I could point to other 
classes containing men infi- 
nitely more dangerous to the 
public than the most unscrupu- 
lous Patent peddler you can 
find. The very man who com- 
plains so loudly about the de- 
ceptions of a Patent dealer, or 
dealer in patented articles, may 
be the victim of a selfish petti- 
fogger, or of an ignorant quack 
who has stolen the name of 
doctor ; or he may be in the 
habit of dosing himself with 
nostrums, which, by a wise dis- 
pensation of Providence, gen- 
erally contain ingredients of a 
character quite as harmless as 
they are useless, and which 
now and then may effect a 
cure, not by any ameliorating 
relation they bear to any dis- 
ease, but by the confidence 
and enthusiasm which the flam- 
ing advertisements and bogus 
testimonials create in the mind. 

The atl:acks of Mr. Sayler 
and other legislators, although 
ostensibly directed against the 



manufacturers and sellers of 
patented articles, are, in reality, 
assaults against inventors and 
patentees, — the very men of all 
others who need the fostering 
care and guardianship of the 
government. 

The majority of these men 
are simple minded, engaged in 
absorbing occupations, credu- 
lous, and easy victims of the 
pretentious and incompetent 
solicitor on the one hand, or of 
cunning or unscrupulous specu- 
lators on the other. /I'he true 
way to remedy the Mifflculties 
which accompany the fraudu- 
lent acts of Patent peddlers 
is to educate the people to a 
point which will enable them 
to resist all attempts at fraud ; 
and this is just what the 
authorities of the Patent Office 
are doing by the issue of " The 
Official Gazette," the increased 
circulation of which, with its 
weekly decisions, must soon 
impart to the community a 
Patent education, which will 
render the occupation of these 
wandering pirates unprofitable. 

Let this Patent Office litera- 
ture be increased to the extent 



90 



which the commissioner de- 
sires, and we shall soon have 
such a widespread knowledge 
of Patents and Patent property, 
that the proposed purchaser 
will take the same prudent 
steps for his security as he 
would in purchasing lands or 
merchandise. ,/ 

Let this literature supplant 
the pamphlets and periodicals 
published ostensibly to give in- 
formation to inventors, and in 
the interests of science and 
useful arts, but really as ad- 
juncts to Patent soliciting or 
Patent speculating estabhsh- 
ments, and there will be fewer 
complaints of the victimizing 
of inventors. 

The attacks of our legislat- 
ors upon the Patent System 
appear to be founded on two 
suppositions : first, that we are 
paying too much for patented 
articles of manufacture, or arti- 
cles made by patented machin- 
ery, and, second, that this is 
chargeable to inventors, paten- 
tees, and manufacturers of 
patented goods. We are pay- 
ing too much for all sorts of 
articles, patented and not pat- 



ented, a subject to which we 
shall have to refer more fully 
under the head, " Where the 
money goes ; " but why legislat- 
ors should jump at the throats 
of inventors, and declare them 
to be the guilty cause, it is 
difficult to understand. 

The tendency of Patents 
from the first, as we have 
already seen, has 'been to 
economize manufacture, to 
cheapen articles of utility and 
luxury, to place us in posses- 
sion of things undreamed of 
before, to render the artisan's 
home of to-day more comforta- 
ble and attractive than the 
wealthy man's residence of fifty 
years ago. 

Let us take a single example, 
a familiar article of manufac- 
ture, a hand-saw. Pick up a 
saw in any part of the United 
States, and the chances are, 
that you find on it the" trade- 
mark of well-known manufac- 
turers. Ask the user of that 
saw about the instrument, and 
he will tell you that it is the 
best tool of its kind in the 
country. 

To the uninitiated, it looks 



91 



like any ordinary saw ; but it 
is, nevertheless, the subject 
of Patents relating to impor- 
tant features in its construc- 
tion ; and thousands of dollars 
have been spent in patented 
machinery for facilitating, per- 
fecting, and economizing the 
manufacture of these saws. 
As this superior tool is com- 
paratively cheap, the question 
arises. How can the manufac- 
turers afford to sell so superior 
an article at so low a rate? 
Because they have the sole 
right, under sundry Letters 
Patent, of making saws of this 
style ; because the knowledge 
that the Patents secure them 
in this right for a number of 
years encouraged the manu- 
facturers to invest large sums 
of money in machinery and 
appliances for economizing the 
production of these saws. Thus 
the benefit of a supply to our 
artisans of indispensable tools 
of a superior quality, and at a 
cheap rate, may be traced di- 
rectly to our Patent System. 
But this is not all. 

It is but a few years since 
all the saws used in this coun- 



try were imported from Eng- 
land ; and now we have in this 
city the largest saw-works in 
the world, where constant em- 
ployment is given to nearly a 
thousand hands. The rise and 
progress of this magnificent 
establishment is, of course, due 
to the enterprise and energy 
of the proprietors, and to the 
invariable excellence of their 
workmanship ; but they will be 
the first to acknowledge the 
aid which they have derived 
from Patents in the prosecution 
of their business. 

This is but a solitary in- 
stance of the beneficial effects 
of our Patent System. There 
is scarcely an article within our 
reach which does not owe its 
cheapness or superiority to 
Patents ; and hosts of articles 
owe their very existence to the 
encouragement which Patents 
hold out to ingenious men. 

Almost every day, new 
branches of industry are' started 
on the strength of Patents, and 
new employment found for our 
artisans. 

Our legislators know that it 
costs a given sum to manufac- 



92 



ture a certain patented article ; 
they know what it costs to pur- 
chase it. They are astounded at 
the difference between the cost 
of manufacture, and the retail 
price ; and they at once attack 
the patentee, and charge him 
with the absorption of a profit 
of over fifty per cent, — a most 
short-sighted and unjust con- 
clusion. By whom, then, are 
the large profits absorbed ? We 
propose to discuss this point 
under the next head. 

WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO .■* 

If Mr. Sayler, or any other 
member of Congress who feels 
disposed to attack patentees, is 
really anxious to find a true 
solution to this question, we 
can point out a very easy mode 
of doing so. Let him take 
a walk along Pennsylvania 
Avenue, and purchase, at dif- 
ferent stores, a miscellaneous 
collection of home-made arti- 
cles, patented or not patented, 
or, for the matter of that, articles 
bearing the stamps of foreign 
manufacturers (for millions of 
dollars' worth of goods really 
made in our manufacturing 



districts are sold as imported 
articles). Unfortunately there 
are very many purchasers who 
believe in the super-excellence 
of foreign-made goods, and are 
easily persuaded, by unscrupu- 
lous tradesmen, to pay a high 
price for articles under the 
pretence that they are im- 
ported. 

Having carefully collected 
his purchases, and noted the 
cost of each, let our member 
of Congress proceed to trace 
each article to its origin, com- 
pare the manufacturer's charges 
with the retail price, and he 
will find the correct answer to 
his question. 

While the profits of manu- 
facturers in this country are 
but little, if any, in excess of 
those of France, England, or 
Germany, it costs our citizens 
at least twice as much to get 
possession, through jobbers and 
tradesmen, of the products of 
our factories as it does a 
Frenchman or Englishman to 
purchase the goods made by 
his countrymen. This has 
been often remarked by intel- 
ligent foreisrners who have visit- 



93 



ed or become domiciled among 
us, and by our own observant 
citizens who have travelled 
abroad. 

Take an ordinary London or 
Paris retail store, stocked, say, 
with eight or ten thousand 
dollars' worth of standard 
goods, and you will find the 
shopkeeper and his family liv- 
ing contentedly in the rooms 
above the store ; the sons and 
daughters being the attendants. 

But let us transplant this 
store, with the same stock of 
the same standard goods, to any 
of our larger cities, and note 
what a change takes place. 

The other day, wanting a 
dozen brass hinges of a given 
size, I visited a moderately well- 
stocked store, and purchased 
them at the price of twenty- 
five cents per pair. 

The hinges were of superior 
quality, and cheaper than the 
brass hinges of similar size on 
sale ten or fifteen years ago. I 
knew that this superiority of 
the hinges was due to a very 
ingenious patented machine 
referred to in another chapter; 
and I also knew that the manu- 



facturer, owing to the monopoly 
which his Patent guaranteed 
to him, and to the enormous 
demand for the articles, could 
realize a handsome profit by 
charging for the manufactured 
goods a trifle in advance of the 
cost of the metal of which the 
hinges were composed. Curi- 
osity led me to inquire as to 
the manufacturer's price for 
these hinges ; and I found that 
I had paid the storekeeper for 
them from four to five hundred 
per cent more than the manu- 
facturer's price, — an increase 
utterly disproportionate to the 
capital, in money or in brains, 
required for the mere trans- 
mission of the goods from the 
maker to the consumer. 

I bought a pair of fancy 
stockings for a child. I was 
unblushingly told that they 
were an imported article, when 
I knew very well that they 
were made by patented ma- 
chinery in a factory not a mile 
from the store where I pur- 
chased the articles at a cost 
three times that charged by the 
manufacturer. And so it is 
throughout our entire trading 



94 



system : even a paper of tobac- 
co, in going from the manufac- 
turer on one side of a street to 
the retailer on the opposite side, 
increases twofold in price. 

There are many articles 
which can be purchased at a 
reasonably low rate. A steam- 
engine, for instance, bought 
directly from the manufac- 
turers, or smaller articles made 
in the stores where they are 
sold, can be bought cheaply ; 
but, when the jobber and retail 
tradesman intervene, articles 
of every day demand are sold 
at double, treble, and often 
quadruple, the manufacturer's 
charges. 

The conditions attending the 
growth of this country appear 
to have given peculiar impor- 
tance to the tradesman, and to 
have caused to be centred upon 
trading pursuits a perhaps 
excessive degree of attention. 
Every reader of history is fa- 
miliar with the circumstances 
which in colonial days stifled 
every effort to establish manu- 
factures ; and those still living 
among us have had personal 
knowledge of the events — 



some of external, some of inter- 
nal origin — which have in later 
times tended to impede the pro- 
gress of the practical arts among 
us. A people of enterprising 
and original genius, possessing 
a land peculiarly blessed in the 
character and multiplicity of 
its natural products, and the 
ease with which these products 
may be secured to the use of 
man, found the most obvious 
and ready source of profit in 
supplying these products to the 
people of countries less favored 
by Nature, 

At the same time, there was 
not the crowded population, 
nor the abundance and con- 
sequent cheapness of labor, 
most favorable to economy of 
manufacture when carried on 
by hand. In these respects, 
and in the possession of artifi- 
cers whose skill was the in- 
heritance of successive gener- 
ations, the older countries of 
Europe had material advan- 
tages. 

To an institution now hap- 
pily among the things of the 
past, but which, while and 
wherever it prevailed, tended 



95 



as much to the degradation of 
manual labor as it did to the 
apparent dignity and actual 
power of landed proprietorship, 
we need make no more than a 
passing allusion. 

Suffice it to say, that the 
Revolution found the people of 
this country situated in the 
midst of natural abundance, 
without extremes of wealth or 
poverty, and with habits and 
tastes quite as cultured and 
refined as those prevailing 
among the prosperous classes 
in European countries. Among 
these people, their own easy 
circumstances, and constant 
mercantile and social inter- 
course with foreign lands, had 
bred a lively demand for most 
of the known conveniences and 
luxuries of civihzed life. 

For these they had been 
habitually, though in a large 
measure against their will, de- 
pendent upon foreign artisans : 
their attention had perforce 
been mainly divided between 
agricultural and trading pur- 
suits. Handicrafts were of 
course established among them, 
such mainly as are essential to 



the supply of every-day wants ; 
but manufactures as a source of 
natural wealth had been little 
more than dreamed of, and, 
where the obvious natural faci- 
lities had prompted their es- 
tablishment, they had been 
speedily stamped out by the 
jealousy of the mother-country. 
The traders or factors had a 
recognized standing and impor- 
tance in the community : they 
formed the communication be- 
tween the foreign artisan and 
the native consumer. Later, 
rapid as was the progress of 
the useful arts, the extension of 
commerce was infinitely more 
so ; and industry and capital 
naturally flowed into the chan- 
nels promising the most easy 
and speedy reward. While 
the history of manufacturing" 
progress has been that of a 
continued struggle against ad- 
verse conditions, — a struggle 
which only indomitable ingenu- 
ity and energy could have main- 
tained successfully, — that of 
the development of commerce 
displays a career in which the 
periodical phases of adversity 
have but been the consequence 



96 



of a blind recklessness begotten 
of excessive prosperity. 

The circumstances which 
tended to this rapid extension 
of commerce would seem to 
have operated far more tardily 
upon manufacturing progress. 

The opening up of the vast 
and rich Western territories 
offered irresistible inducements 
to the restless and enterprising 
youth of the older States, and 
to the better class of emigrants 
from abroad. New fields of 
commerce were thus rapidly 
opened. The emigrants carried 
with them habits and tastes ac- 
quired among older communi- 
ties; and though these would, 
of course, be more or less modi- 
fied under the new conditions, 
it was more consonant with the 
mental energy of the people to 
subdue and mould the new con- 
ditions into the nearest possible 
correspondence with the old. 
So the trader formed the con- 
necting link between these 
pioneers of a new civilization 
and that which they had left 
behind them. 

Towns sprang up in the wil- 
derness : and these towns were 



essentially trading communi- 
ties. 

In the mean while, mechani- 
cal ingenuity accumulated. 
Capital and cheap labor had 
operated in the manufacturing 
countries of Europe, and nota- 
bly in England, to bring the 
practical arts to a degree of ex- 
cellence both as regards quality, 
and economy in production, 
with which, chiefly from the 
scarcity and value of labor, it 
seemed impossible to compete 
here. Thus it was that our 
ever-increasing trade became 
more and more tributary to 
the foreign manufacturer ; and 
that, with our ever-expanding 
demand, and consequent pros- 
pect of gain, there was an 
ever-increasing army of traders, 
merchants, and storekeepers, 
great and small, between the 
foreign manufacturer and the 
native consumer of his wares. 

fin this connection, too, 
another circumstance, tending 
at once to the advancement of 
commerce, and the temporary 
repression of manufacturers, 
must not be lost sight of. We 
refer to the superabundance, 



97 



with which our country is 
blessed, of certain natural prod- 
ucts which other countries must 
ne^d. ) 

(Raw materials for manufac- 
turing we had in unrivalled 
plenty ; the facihties and labor 
for manufacturing we lacked, 
while other countries had them 
in excess. To export these raw 
materials was a ready and ever- 
growing field of gain for the 
trader^ ^ 

We do not mean to assert, 
that, during this time, there was 
lack of development in the 
practical arts : on the contrary, 
their progress, viewed by itself, 
or in connection with the sur- 
rounding circumstances, was 
wonderful. But attention is di- 
rected to the fact, that this 
progress, as compared with the 
wonderful expansion of com- 
merce, was sl5w and uncertain ; 
that it was so in spite of cer- 
tain adverse conditions ; and 
that, in the merely commercial 
habits of the people, it perhaps 
found less of an ally than an 
ob§.tacle. 

nTrade presented the surest 
and most profitable invest- 



ments for wealth : manufactur- 
ing offered harder work, and 
more uncertain profits.^ 

f Trade flourished apace with 
the growth and constantly- 
developing wealth of the coun- 
try : manufacturing needed the 
fostering aid of government-' 

( Under such circumstances, 
it is not to be wondered at if 
the spirit of the people at large 
became essentially a trading- 
spirit, or if the average youth 
preferred those employments 
which promised the least 
amount of real mental laboiy 

To these causes we are al- 
most ashamed to add another, 
which those among whom it 
chiefly exists would probably 
be the first to deny. We refer 
to the preference of trading- 
occupations, owing to their 
presumed respecta.bility. With 
all that is being constantly said 
or written about the dignity of 
labor, what a general aversion 
there is to the external signs 
of physical work ! to how large 
a portion of the public is the 
mechanic associated only with 
the idea of grime and grease 1 
and how many fond mothers 



98 



and short-sighted fathers pre- 
fer for their children the medi- 
ocre respectabihty and ease of 
storekeeping to the hard work 
and attendant grime of me- 
chanical pursuits ! It would be 
needless to dilate on this sub- 
ject : it is a matter of taste, to 
dispute which is an unprofit- 
able and ungrateful task; at- 
tention is drawn to it as one, 
and not the least, of the many 
causes which have tended to 
popularize trading pursuits. 
. Nor should the importance 
of these pursuits, or the energy 
and activity to be found among 
those who follow them, be 
underrated. He would be a 
bold man, however, who should 
assert that trading, as such, 
does or can expand the facul- 
ties of mind and heart in any 
thing like the same degree as 
those occupations which call 
into play the observing and 
creative faculties. Napoleon's 
well-known fling at the Eng- 
lish as a nation of shopkeep- 
ers, had it been true, might, 
perhaps, have been just ; but, 
unfortunately for its point, it 
was uttered just about the 



time when that spirit of origi- 
nality and creativeness (least 
characteristic of shopkeeping) 
was commencing to display its 
greatest activity among the 
English. 

In commerce, given its wid- 
est signification, and viewed as 
a science, there is room for the 
exercise of the best faculties 
of the mind ; but the same will 
hardly be claimed for mere in- 
ternal or local trading, the 
mere intervention between 
manufacturer and customer. 
This is the branch of com- 
merce, however, in which the 
multitude of traders are every- 
where engaged, and the branch 
which, by force of the circum- 
stances which we have narrated, 
has chiefly prevailed in this 
country. It is this class of 
traders which mould our com- 
merce, and through whose 
hands pass the floating wealth 
of the country. Their numbers, 
wealth, and power are constant- 
ly increasing ; and they retain, 
in these days of ready commu- 
nication, and of increased and 
constantly-increasing native 
industry, a position to. which 



99 



they are, perhaps, not so well 
entitled as in days gone by. 

As domestic manufacturers 
grow, and become more widely 
disseminated, and maker and 
consumer come more within 
each other's reach, the impor- 
tance of these middle-men must 
decrease. In the mean while, 
long-established custom pre- 
vails, and their asserted rights 
are acknowledged, though the 
necessity for them has ceased. 

They stand between domes- 
tic manufacturers and con- 
sumers, as they have been 
accustomed to stand between 
the latter and foreign manufac- 
turers ; and so well established 
is their power, so much wealth 
have they engrossed, that they 
are too frequently able to dic- 
tate both to manufacturer and 
consumer the terms upon which 
goods shall be transmitted from 
one to the other. And this 
state of affairs is aided and 
aggravated by the vicious sys- 
tem of trading known as long 
credit, the burden of which 
falls ultimately upon the con- 
sumer by adding to the price 
of goods the interest which 



long credit implies. These, 
and not the greed of inventors, 
patentees, and manufacturers, 
are the causes of those exor- 
bitant prices of manufactured 
articles which are so bitterly 
complained of. (fThe true reme- 
dy is the dissemination of man- 
ufactures, the establishment of 
the factory as near as possi- 
ble to the consumers, and the 
consequent narrowing and sim- 
plifying of trade. Whether 
this desirable end is. more likely 
to be attained or obstructed by 
our Patent System, let past 
history, and the present gradual 
establishment of manufactur- 
ing in the Western States, 
attest, y 

It would be well for our 
legislators to direct their atten- 
tion to the Western jobbers, or 
commission merchants, who 
league together, and, like na- 
bobs, determine what they will 
pay for manufactured articles, 
and on what terms they will 
deliver them to the retailers. 
So oppressive have the acts of 
these men become, that manu- 
facturers have established, and 
continue to establish, at differ- 



[OO 



ent cities, branch depots for the 
deHvery of goods directly to the 
retailer, — an effective remedy, 
which must result in the great- 
est advantage to the public. 

A spirit of economy has in- 
duced the consumer to pur- 
chase directly from the manu- 
facturers virherever it is possible 
to do so ; and this must con- 
tinue, until the occupation of 
the grasping middle-men must 
cease, or they be content to 
accept profits adequate to the 
amount of intelligence and 
capital which they have in- 
vested in the business. 

Farmers and others in the 
West have been taught to 
believe that manufacturers of 
Patent machines realize a profit 
of over fifty per cent ; and to 
this belief is due the sudden 
fit of crude Patent legislation. 

It is an unfounded report, 
followed by the usual mischiev- 
ous result of creating that 
antagonism between different 
sections of the community, 
which always ends in attempts 
at disastrous class legislation. 

(The price paid for many 
patented machines is well 



known to be much in excess of 
the cost of production ; and 
unthinking purchasers charge 
this excess to manufacturers' 
profits, — a most erroneous con- 
clusion. They forget the sell- 
ers, the merchants, the middle- 
men; they forget the cost of 
introducing a new invention, 
the cost of insuring a perma- 
nent market by advertising, &c., 
and of maintaining expensive 
establishments and salesrooms 
at points miles the away from 
manufactories.) 

Take sewing-machines, for 
instance. The manufacturers 
of these machines have been 
over and over again charged 
with making princely profits at 
the expense of the purchasers : 
whereas the cost of selling 
these machines amounts to 
quite as much as, or even more 
than, the cost of production. 

There is not a sewing-ma- 
chine manufacturer who would 
not be willing to furnish ma- 
chines at half their present 
cost, if all purchasers would 
consent to fetch them from the 
factory, or if they could be de- 
posited in hardware stores for 



lOI 



sale, like apple-paring and 
other domestic machines. But 
purchasers of sewing-machines 
expect to be taught their use 
in well-appointed stores and 
show-rooms ; and, at distant 
points, they expect the machines 
to be brought to their doors by 
men who can demonstrate the 
mode of operating them. Such 
indulgences as these cannot be 
obtained without payment 

It is the same with hosts of 
other labor-saving machines 
which are the subjects of 
Patents, or the products of pat- 
ented machinery. And let it 
be said here, that these travel- 
ling sellers of patented ma- 
chines are not always to be 
despised. 

Many a farmer located at 
a distant, out-of-the-way place, 
has to thank the day that 
brought to his doors the honest 
peddler of a labor-saving ma- 
chine, which, but for the 
trader's enterprise, would, per- 
haps, have never been known 
to him. While the dishonest 
hawker is a curse everywhere, 
the honorable peddler is a 
blessing in distant, sparsely- 



settled sections of the coun- 
try. 

But to return to sewing-ma- 
chines. They appear to have 
been pointed out as special 
objects of attack by Patent 
obstructionists. It will scarcely 
do to hazard the assertion, that, 
but for Patents, there would 
have been no sewing-machines. 
But the excellence and econo- 
my of modern machinery de- 
pends upon the amount of 
capital invested in it, and this 
capital can never be invested 
without the security which Pat- 
ents afford. 

Sewing-machines might have 
existed in the absence of Pat- 
ents ; but how far they would 
have progressed beyond the 
original machine, which was 
about the size of a hand-cart, 
it is difficult to say. 

Certainly the manufacture of 
these machines would have 
been in the hands of tinkers, 
small machinists, and black- 
smiths. No two machines 
would have been alike. There 
would have been no such beau- 
tiful sewing-machines as those, 
of to-day. 



102 



The superiority and economy 
of our labor-saving machines 
are acknowledged throughout 
the world ; and these have been 
reached by ingenuity stimulated 
by Patents. We are told by 
Mr. Brassy, an eminent author, 
and member of parliament, that 
we Americans " with our high 
wages, and our high cost of 
living, have, by our labor-sav- 
ing machinery, driven out of 
the foreign markets some of the 
most important trades;" all of 
which is due to the investment 
of large capital, which insures 
cheap production, — investment 
which Patents induce. 

If the cost of selling could 
be reduced in proportion to the 
Continued lowering of the cost 
of production, which is due to 
our Patent System, we should 
be the possessors of the cheap- 
est articles of manufacture in 
the world ; we should have fewer 
idle young men, whose senses 
have been blunted by uncon- 
genial employment ; and indus- 
trial occupations would be 
looked upon as the most en- 
nobling of all professions. 
f The answer to the question 



at the head of this chapter is 
simply this : That the enormous 
profits paid for manufactured 
articles by the consumer, over 
and above the cost of produc- 
tion, are chargeable, not to the 
manufacturers, inventors, or 
patentees, but to the grasping 
demands of non-producing mid- 
dle-men."^) 

VALUELESS PATENTS. 

Another line of attack against 
our Patent System is based on 
the fact that the majority of 
patents are granted for things 
of little or no value to the 
community. 

True, a weak Patent, or a 
Patent for a valueless article, 
may be used for a bad purpose ; 
but where is the Patent that 
does not carry with it its les- 
son } 

^Inventors are like the rest of 
mankind in this respect, — that 
the minority succeed, while the 
majority fail. Ask any man 
who has gained an eminent 
and enviable position, what 
trials and disappointments he 
had to undergo, what energy 
he had to exercise in order to 



I03 



reach that position. These are 
the men who create that spirit 
of emulation among the ma- 
jority, without which the world 
would turn back on its hinges. 
It is this spirit of emulation 
which raises men from the 
ranks of the majority to fill the 
gaps in those of the minority. 

So it is with inventors. The 
success of one stimulates an- 
other, who may fail in his en- 
deavors in the first instance ; 
but this very failure is one of 
the trials that urges him to 
renewed efforts, which, if he is 
a real inventor, must eventually 
result in success. 

Another may think he is an 
inventor when he is not. Fail- 
ure, in this case, is the lesson 
to teach him that he has mis- 
taken his vocation. A third 
may yield under the first dis- 
appointment, and give up in 
disgust. He belongs to the 
majority, and was never in- 
tended to reach the ranks of the 
minority. 

But what business has the 
government to grant Patents 
for things which are of no pub- 
lic value ? This is another cry 



of those who would attack the 
integrity of our Patent System. 

Is the application of John 
Jones for a Patent to be met by 
a refusal like this from a gov- 
ernment officer, "Your ma- 
chine will not work half as well 
as that for which we granted a 
Patent to John Brown week 
before last : you cannot have a 
patent " ? Such a practice as 
this, if permitted to prevail, 
would convert the Patent Office 
into an inquisitorial star cham- 
ber, a disgrace to any despotic 
government. 

The present policy is the true 
one. If an inventor presents an 
application for a Patent for an 
invention having any claim to 
novelty, if it exhibits ingenuity, 
if it will perform the duty 
claimed for it, let the man have 
his Patent, whether, in the ex- 
aminer's opinion, it will or will 
not do the duty better than 
preceding inventions, or wheth- 
er or not it is more valuable in 
a marketable point of view. 
The policy of our government 
is to give "every inventor a 
chance ; for, however frivolous 
inventions may appear at first 



104 



sight, they often lead to suc- 
cess : an invention which ap- 
pears trifling to-day may prove 
of immense value to-morrow. 
Far better flood the country 
with Patents of little or no 
value than attempt to arrest 
the inventive progress of the 
community by arbitrary meas- 
ures which would disgrace our 
free institutions. 

ABOUT INVENTORS. 

\Then, again, the opinion is 
by no means uncommon that 
inventors are a pampered class, 
set apart by the government 
for special indulgences and 
privileges. A more absurd 
mistake than this could not 
prevail. The government has 
established laws for the pro- 
tection of property in inven- 
tion, precisely as it has for the 
security of other property, and 
for precisely the same purpose ; 
that is, for the welfare of the 
community at large, not for the 
special benefit of individuals. j) 
The inventor does not ask 
for indulgences : the law places 
him above the character of a 
beggar for government patron- 



age. He goes to the proper 
department, and says, " I have 
an invention. It is my prop- 
erty, for I can keep it to my- 
self ; but I want the property 
secured by the grant of a Pat- 
ent for seventeen years, so that 
I can practise the invention 
publicly, and make the most of 
it during that term. Here are 
the papers to instruct the pub- 
lic how to work the invention, 
and reap all the benefit from it 
when my term expires ; and 
here are the fees to enable you 
to make such searches as are 
necessary for you to decide 
whether the property is really 
mine or not." The govern- 
ment must comply with his de- 
mand, and must decide whether 
or not the invention is already 
the property of the public, or 
of a prior inventor. If it is not, 
and the applicant is otherwise 
legally entitled to protection, 
the Patent must be granted. 

The whole affair is a plain 
business tran'^saction. There is 
no sentimentality about it, no 
humble petitioning for special 
favors on the one side, no ex- 
hibitions of lofty patronage on 



I05 



the other. The seal of the 
Patent is the sealing of a bar- 
gain between the inventor on 
one side, and the government, 
as agent for the public, on the 
other. 

If the invention is a valua- 
ble one, the public get the best 
of the bargain. If it proves 
to be of little or no real mar- 
ketable value, it sinks into 
oblivion. 

Of course, the government 
cannot guarantee the validity 
of the Patent. The possession 
of a title deed does not pre- 
clude the possibility of ques- 
tions of right. The inventors 
title deed is his Patent ; and it 
is presumptive evidence of his 
right to all he claims in that 
Patent, and nothing more. 

How often do we hear the 
remark, " What a lucky man 
that is to hit upon such a profit- 
able invention ! " I will admit 
that a man of no ability may 
accidentally discover a valuable 
improvement, just as a lazy 
gold-miner with no more brains 
than a tadpole may discover a 
nugget. But these are excep- 
tional cases. No greater mis- 



take can be made than to sup- 
pose an inventor's career to be 
one of continued ease and 
profit. I have been among in- 
ventors for thirty years ; and I 
can say that very few members 
of the community work as hard 
as they do. 

Their gains are rarely com- 
mensurate with their exertions, 
and still more rarely commen- 
surate with the benefits they 
impart to the community. 

ATTACKS ON THE PATENT 
OFFICE. 

It must be remembered that 
comparatively few inventors 
are familiar with Patent mat- 
ters, or understand their true 
status as regards the public, 
and prior inventors : hence 
they very naturally charge all 
their disappointments to the 
inefficiency or short-comings of 
the officers of the Patent Office. 

Then, again, there is a small 
army of solicitors who adver- 
tise themselves as especially 
qualified to aid inventors in 
procuring Patents, and who 
offer all sorts of inducements 
to secure patronage. 



io6 



Candidates for the medical 
and legal professions must pass 
through a course of study, and 
through an examination ; but 
we know, that, in the ranks of 
these professions, there are 
many incompetent and unscru- 
pulous members. 

The profession of a Patent 
solicitor is one demanding va- 
ried accomplishments and ex- 
perience ; but any one can 
announce himself as qualified 
for the profession. He under- 
goes no examination as to his 
qualifications. His previous 
training, his mechanical, legal, 
or scientific attainments, are 
never inquired into : he simply 
adopts the title of Patent So- 
licitor or Patent Attorney, and 
on the strength of this title 
demands the confidence of in- 
ventors. 

In a profession so easy to 
enter as this, we must naturally 
expect a greater proportion of 
incompetents than in the 
learned professions, admission 
to which is dependent upon a 
previous course of study, and 
successful examination. 

Of course, the disputes be- 



tween the Patent Office and 
unskilled or reckless attorneys 
must be constant ; and such 
attorneys, to relieve themselves 
from the charges of incompe- 
tency, and disguise their own 
shortcomings, abuse the Pat- 
ent Office authorities to their 
clients, 

(To such an extent have the 
misrepresentations been carried, 
that inexperienced inventors, 
and those members of the pub- 
lic who have neither the time 
nor inchnation to investigate 
the subject thoroughly, have 
been educated to believe that 
the Patent Office is a tyrannical 
institution, where incompeten- 
cy, mismanagement, and favor- 
itism prevail. 

The authorities of the Patent 
Office cannot reply to these 
charges : hence the public hears 
but one side of the question. 

It would be surprising in- 
deed, if, among the multitude 
of officers in the Patent Office, 
every man should be qualified 
for his position. Men with er- 
roneous notions of their duties, 
and with a tendency to treat 
inventors illiberally, must al- 



I07 



ways be found among the ex- 
aminers ; but they are excep- 
tions, and in time either change 
their views, or are permitted to 
find some other employment. 

The Patent Office is as well 
officered as any other govern- 
ment bureau. It is surprising, 
in fact, that so many accom- 
plished men can be found in 
positions the salaries attached 
to which are by no means 
large. 

The rules of the Patent Office 
may be strict, and the regula- 
tions of such a character as to 
render the practice of solicit- 
ing Patents difficult, and some- 
times tedious ; but it must be 
remembered that these strict 
rules and regulations have been 
established, and are enforced, 
for the purpose, mainly, of 
checking the practices of so- 
licitors of the class to which 
we have referred. 

It is not pretended, either, 
that our Patent laws or the 
administration of the Patent 
Office are perfect. From time 
to time, new laws are demand- 
ed to meet unforeseen contin- 
gencies, and new Patent Office 



regulations to meet such new 
difficulties as may present 
themselves. Better facilities 
could, it is believed, be af- 
forded for the prompt prose- 
cution of applications, and a 
greater uniformity of practice 
might be secured ; but, in spite 
of sundry defects, it is difficult 
to understand how a bona fide 
inventor who is in good hands 
can fail to secure all the rights 
to which he is entitled. 

There is one way to set the 
public right as to the true con- 
dition and management of the 
Patent Office ; and that is by 
the appointment of a congres- 
sional committee of investiga- 
tion, which would derive its 
information from sources cer- 
tain to develop the truth. 

Such a committee, after fin- 
ishing its labors, would, it is be- 
lieved, come to the conclusion 
that most of the complaints 
which we see in print are un- 
founded, and that, where diffi- 
culties occur, their source will, 
in the majority of cases, be 
found outside of the office, and 
not inside. ;And probably one 
of the first remedial measures 



io8 



which the committee would 
suggest would be a law to 
compel every Patent solicitor 
to pass an official examination 
as to his competency to fulfil 
the duties which he has assumed. 

THE CRY AGAINST PATENTS 
AND INVENTORS. 

As I have said before, the 
highest average of manufac- 
turers' profits on the produc- 
tion of patented articles is fif- 
teen per cent ; and, the sooner 
our Western farmers know 
this, the better. Let the truth 
prevail on this subject, and we 
shall have no more exhibitions 
of petty jealousies between 
different sections of the coun- 
try, no more crude attempts at 
Patent law tinkering, intended 
for the advantage of one class 
at the expense of another, but 
which, if permitted to become 
the law of the land, must be 
disastrous to both. 

If there is one class of our 
community which is more in- 
debted to our Patent System, 
and more interested in its 
maintenance, than another, it 
is our Western farmers. 



But for the rapid progress in 
the useful arts, due mainly to 
that system, the vast tracts of 
cultivated country in the West 
would have remained the home 
of the buffalo and the savage. 
Let any farmer who is old 
enough to remember the appli- 
ances of thirty years ago, com- 
pare them with those with 
which his farm has been 
stocked at such wonderfully 
low prices ; let him look at the 
comforts of his home, the many 
cheap accessories beyond his 
reach, nay, beyond his concep- 
tion, thirty years before ; and 
then let him remember that 
all these labor-saving applian- 
ces, all these household com- 
forts, owe their birth to the 
encouragement which our Pat- 
ent System holds out to the 
inventor. 

I think I hear a short- 
sighted farmer saying, "Well, 
we should have had the things 
anyhow. Patents, or no Pat- 
ents." Don't believe it. Men 
do not act without motives. 
They do not invent without 
incentives. They may have 
passing ideas on improvements, 



109 



hasty, evanescent conceptions ; 
but they will not, without pros- 
pect of remuneration, devote 
their time and thought to that 
development and permanent 
embodiment of their ideas, 
without which they are of no 
avail. 

Others may say (and I hope, 
for the sake of the country at 
large, that they are very few), 
" Well, we have inventions 
enough, and I am satisfied to 
go on as I am ; and my chil- 
dren ought to be satisfied." 
This was substantially the 
exclamation of/the legislator 
in Holland a few years ago, — 
a legislator who successfully 
advocated the abolition of Pat- 
ents in that country, and who 
declared that " it might be well 
enough for such crude coun- 
tries as the United States and 
England to encourage inven- 
tion by the grant of Patents ; 
but, when they arrived at the 
state of perfection reached by 
Holland, there would be no 
further necessity for such gov- 
ernment encouragement." 

Well, the Hollanders abol- 
ished their Patent laws ; and I 



must say they were bad 
enough to deserve abolition : 
but what are the consequences ? 
The legislators of that coun- 
try are now contemplating the 
framing a new and more liberal 
Patent law. 

No members of the commu- 
nity have more to expect from 
Patents in future than our 
Western farmers. They are 
crying out for increased facili- 
ties for gathering and trans- 
porting their crops. They want 
cheap appliances, cheap com- 
forts, and more of them. From 
whom have they to expect 
these things } From inventors 
whom the law encourages ; 
from the enterprise which 
always accompanies, and is 
inseparable from invention ; 
from manufacturing rivalry 
which is based on Patents, and 
which always has resulted, and 
always must result, in econo- 
my of production. 

The farmers must not forget 
the disastrous effect which 
Mr. Sayler's proposition would 
have in a monetary point of 
view. The Honorable Com- 
missioner of Patents told us in 



no 



his speech before the United 
States Patent Association, that 
" nine-tenths of all the money 
invested in manufacturing in 
the United States is so invest- 
ed, because of the security 
which is given to the invest- 
ment by Patents." If Mr. Say- 
ler's revolutionary notions are 
to prevail, the millions invested 
in Patent property would be in 
jeopardy. Then would ensue 
financial consternation, and a 
panic, compared with which 
that through which we have 
not yet passed would be tri- 
fling. Asa matter of course, the 
result of all this would be uni- 
versal distress among the arti- 
sans, and certainly among the 
farmersJvvho would be among 
, the first to cry out, " Give us 
back our Patent System ! " 
Legislators may laugh at all 
this as an exaggeration ; but 
let them search for the facts in 
this or any other manufactur- 
ing city in the Union, and 
they will soon find how disas- 
trous to the whole community 
would be a legislative wound- 
ing of the alliance between 
Patents and manufactures. 



I would say to the Western 
farmers, Do not impair Patent 
property, do not degrade inven- 
tion by obstructive laws, do 
not kill the goose that lays the 
golden eggs. 

Dispense with your middle- 
men, your non-producers, who 
insist upon being the costly 
mediums of transfer between 
the manufacturers and your- 
selves : these are the men 
to attack, not inventors, the 
mainstays of manufacturers, 
the economizers of manufac- 
tures. 

I do not pretend to say that 
our Patent System is perfect. 
There are defects of adminis- 
tration due to the unforeseen 
growth of the demands upon 
the system ; and the question 
of the proper remedies for these 
defects demand careful legisla- 
tive deliberation ; but the le- 
gislators who could make the 
mistakes we have referred to 
above are not the men from 
whom we can expect salutary 
remedial measures. 

The integrity of our Patent 
System must be preserved 
from the undermining, ruinous 



Ill 



attacks of short-sighted legis- i facturing interests, if we wish 



lators, if we desire to maintain 
the proud position which we 
now occupy as regards manu- 



our progress in the useful arts 
in future to make strides as 
rapid as in the past. 















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